Wednesday 15th April
The warmer and more moist air stream arrived on Tuesday with plenty of sunshine, especially in the morning, that lifted the temperature to a peak of 14.7C at 12.52, before cloud drifted over around midday. The afternoon was dull under thickening cloud with thin drizzle observed late afternoon and further light showers just after midnight, however, a total precipitation of 2.6mm was minimal.

The strong morning sunshine resulted in a UV value of 4.7, which was top of the Moderaate category, and the highest since 6th September.

The past night was the warmest since early November. The thermometer dropped very slowly after it’s peak to around 11C at 18.00 and hovered around there all evening until a low of 11.1C was logged for perhaps half an hour then edged upwards a fraction to remain around 11.7C all night. There was no fall off in temperature as is usual overnight, due to the thick, low cloud and the steady drift of a light wind from the south bringing the warmer air stream. This was the result of a warm front that crossed the UK in the early hours.

I was pleased to get my beans, courgettes and sunflowers out of their pots and into the warmer garden soil later yesterday. The decision I felt was justified as they had a drink to refresh them in the afternoon and again in the evening and the very warm night gave the plants a comfortable start.The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm read 11.7C at 08.00, which suited the new plants! Future maxima are likely to be just above average whilst future minima will be a few degrees above average with no likelihood of frost under the Atlantic air stream.

Wednesday arrived dull and gloomy that is likely to persist all day, yes another front will traverse the country, this time a cold front that will see the cloud thicken around noon with some possible rainfall and the wind will become gusty and much stronger. The first rain from the fragmented front, had arrived over west Cornwall by 08.00.

The next few days will continue the unsettled conditions as the forecast surface pressure charts indicate a stream of depressions heading our way from the Atlantic with an air stream from a southwesterly quadrant. There looks to be a change by the weekend when the breeze is forecast to veer into the north as an Azores High develops and moves over the country, pushing up from the southwest. This change will likely bring a cooler airsteam but drier.