The damp day on Monday meant another dull day with the maximum again below my 40-year average at -1.1C with a peak of 16.2C at 14.50. There were intermittent showers of drizzle or light rain that amounted to 1.8mm, heavier at 15.00. Although the past night was the second warmest this month with a low of 9.6C at 02.36, fog formed in the early hours limiting visibility to 200m after dawn. However, by 06.45 there signs of the fog beginning to thin from the east that by 07.30 had lifted into misty conditions as the sun began to breakthrough.
By 08.00 on Tuesday the sun began to shine through the residual cloud and mist that had lifted the thermometer to 11.4C.
A significant high pressure system has been building in the Atlantic over the past day and is now beginning to influence our weather. The barometric pressure has risen 13mb over the twenty-four hours and is still rising steadily. It looks as if it will be dominating our weather for a few days so there are prospects of several very welcome dry and warm days ahead.
This welcome warmth has seen the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm stabilise at 11C and above for the past three days so it is time to get out on the garden and plant the vegetable seeds and tender summer bedding, at last!