Thursday 12th February
Although there were two especially short, sharp showers on Wednesday morning, the afternoon was dry with spells of strong sunshine. Just after midday the UV level was logged at 1.3, the highest value since the 6th October, proving that the sun is strong when the cloud cover breaks up. There was a greater variation in the temperature extremes over the past twenty-four hours than during the previous few days with a maximum of 10.6C, the equal highest this month, being 2.3C above average whilst 5.9C was logged at 04.17 early Thursday, being 4.0C above average.
Thursday after first light was a repeat of Wednesday with the low cloud once again draping the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest under very misty conditions, not classed as fog as the visibility was in excess of 1,000 metres, just.
The recent persistent rainfall has now seen levels of ground water, that has percolated through the aquifers, rise significantly. Just two of the local ground water stations are just below the top of normal range whilst the remaining five ground water stations in our region are above the top of the normal range, some significantly, by a couple of metres. If we have a fine, hot summer, at least we start with the ground water stations having been replenished.
The rainfall this month now stands at 83.8mm being 123% of my 42-year record, whilst the Winter rainfall now totals 375.9mm, making it the fourth wettest since 1984 when my station started, with yet more rain forecast. By the end of the week this winter will likely move into third position.
The forecast temporary ridge of high pressure is still likely to edge in from Friday night resulting in a dry and sunny Saturday, after a possible air frost, the result of clearing skies. Sadly, the fine weather won’t last as by Sunday we will be back to cloudy, damp days well into next week.