Wednesday 17th June
The past day and night were the warmest this month with a maximum of 23.9C, logged at 15.54, being 3.1C above average whilst the overnight minimum of 15.8C, logged in the early hours of Wednesday at 00.51, was a significant 5.6C above average. Spots of rain were observed during the afternoon at 15.54 and again at 18.00 but not sufficient to be measurable, just dampened surfaces, however, a light shower passed our way just after 03.00 this morning that amounted to just 0.6mm.
The UV level at its peak rose into the ‘Very High’ category with a value of 8.0 at 14.00, the second time this month after last Friday, which coincided with peak solar radiation of 1336W/m2.
Wednesday began dull and misty from the back edge of the weather front that had arrived in the early hours with substantial rain to the north of the M4 corridor. Much of the day is likely to bring variable cloud and sunny periods as we are still under the influence of the low pressure centred to the northwest with a barometric pressure reading of 1016.6mb at 08.00, and steady. The breeze will continue light and from the southwest, wafted up between the low pressure air circulating anticlockwise and the high pressure air stream circulating clockwise.
The tussle between the low pressure centred south of Iceland and the high pressure over the Continent continues. Today and tomorrow the low pressure will dominate our weather, however, forecast surface pressure charts indicate that later on Friday and certainly into Saturday the high pressure over the Continent will win the battle and push northwestwards across the UK heralding a period of fine, sunny and probably hot weather. There is increasing confidence that from Sunday into next week we could be subject to a heatwave with maxima in the high 20s.
The Benedictine Monastery of St Peter was founded at Abbotsbury in the 11th century (around 1040) by Orc, a steward of King Cnut. In order to be self-sufficient as most medieval masteries were, crops were grown, fish were caught and the monks also farmed the swans of the Fleet Lagoon.