The thermometer slowly rose to a maximum of 24.7C on Thursday. This was 1C below the Wednesday peak but 7.6C above the May average. The light breeze, with a maximum gust of just 11mph, was predominantly from the west but late afternoon backed into the south under the influence of the approaching depression.
Overnight the cloud built minimising any loss of warmth radiating into the atmosphere thus giving a very mild night. The thermometer sank no lower than 14.4C at 06.07 on Friday morning being 7.4C above the May average and the warmest night since 26th September. The minimum was only 2.7C below the average maximum for May.
The rain bands approaching from the west began to fragment as they approached central southern England with just a few spots of rain noted at 05.30 and nothing thereafter. There were brief strong gusts of southerly westerly wind, up to 17mph at 07.09, as the weather fronts traversed the area.
The hang back of cloud from the deep depression to the north west of the country meant that we were not greeted by glorious sunshine after dawn as on several previous mornings. However, just after 08.00 the clouds were beginning to thin and brief glimpses of brightness were observed.
