The real Arctic air was slow to affect the daytime as a maximum of 6.6C was logged, just 0.5C below the average and the warmest day since the 5th. Overnight the temperature hovered just a degree or so above freezing as at 06.15 it registered +0.1C . However, by 06.45 the thermometer began to fall steadily and by 08.00 registered -1.7C being 2.9C below my 40-year average.
What a delight to see clear blue skies after dawn on Monday and the certainty of some sunshine. The depression to the east, with air circulating anticlockwise, is bringing a flow of Arctic Air across the country. The barometric pressure has fallen another 5mb with a reading of 1011.5mb at 08.00, the lowest since the beginning of the month. The wind direction will be light and from the northwest. The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm had dropped to 1.1C at 08.00 from a high of 8.9C at the beginning of the month.
We have now had eight consecutive dry days, what a contrast to the extended wet period previously?