Author: Eric Gilbert

Thanks to the northeasterly, again strong on Wednesday gusting to 25mph, the thermometer only reached 4.0C (3.1C below average) even though there were many hours of welcome sunshine. It was a dry day with the UV level up a touch to 0.6.

Thursday first thing revealed some brightness but predominantly cloudy. The wind has backed a few degrees into the north-northeast but is likely to veer into the northeast again later today as the high pressure moves position.

The anticyclone is building rapidly this morning with a reading of 1037.3mb at 08.00, up 7mb on Wednesday, the highest since 16th December. The pressure at its centre, just off the north coast of Scotland was 1045mb at 08.00.

The brisk northeasterly wind did not let uo on Tuesday limiting the temperature by day to just 2.3C, some 4.9V below average and a wind chill again that meant it felt at least 2C colder outside. The minimum of -0.5C was logged at 21.38 producing an air frost for a few hours but by 08.00 on Wednesday there was a slight lot to 0.2C

Wednesday arrived with clear skies and the prospect of some sunshine. The anticyclone has changed little, just a reduction of 1mb since Tuesday.

The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm read 0.1C at 08.00 not seen since 25th January 2023

The persistent northeasterly air stream on Monday, gusting to 24mph, meant a cold day with the thermometer not rising above 2.4C. This was a significant 4.5C below my 40-year average but also the coldest day since 1st December. There was also a windchill that outside making it feel at least 2C lower than that indicated on an exterior thermometer. A minimum air temperature of -0.1C was logged at 07.06 on Tuesday being 1.4C below my 40-year average,

Tuesday morning revealed similar conditions as on Monday with overcast skies and the wind, initially coming from the east-northeast but later backing into the north east. The strong wind is again producing a wind chill. At 08.00 the thermometer read 0.1C but my computerised weather station calculated that it felt more like -3C due to windchill thanks to the strong wind and lower humidity (86%). The anticyclone is changing shape causing the wind direction changes but pressure is still very high with 1031.1mb logged at 08.00, down 2mb since that recorded on Monday.

Thanks to the brisk northeasterly the thermometer struggled to each 3.7C on Sunday, some 3.4C below my 40-year average. The wind was brisk so that it felt outside some 2C blow that indicated on an outside thermometer classed as wind chill. The overnight minimum of -0.2C occurred at 03.40 Monday so there was briefly a ground frost. By 08.00 Monday, the thermometer had eased upwards, above freezing, to 1.1C.

Monday initially saw much clear sky but by 07.30 a large, thick bank of cloud could be seen to the northeast that by 08.00 had almost completely covered the sky. It was the coldest start to a day for a month. The airstream from the northeast is much drier, a humidity reading at 08.00 logged 79% making it the lowest humidity at that tine since 26th June (70%). The barometric pressure at 08.00 was 1033.6mb, the highest since 16th December (1040.8mb).

The anticyclone centre has edged eastwards so that the anticlockwise rotation of air continues to come from the northeast.

The air stream on Saturday came predominantly from the north, a cool direction, so no surprises that the maximum of 6.5C was below my 40-year average (-0.6C). Although there was a little sunshine around midday the sun is weak at this time of the year so had minimal influence on the temperature. The UV level was 0.5, bottom of the ‘Low’ category. Late evening the thermometer hovered around 2C to 3C but in the early hours fell away to a low at 08.00 of 1.4C just 0.1C above my 40-year average.

Sunday revealed a sky with broken cloud, varying, but perhaps six eighths.

The high pressure system extending from the Arctic to Portugal and into the east as far as Russia, has become well established with a pressure reading of 1027.9mb at 08.00, the highest since 18th December, and an increase of 11mb since Saturday. As result the wind will come mainly from the nor-nor east, rather than north as on Saturday, and be brisk resulting in a minor windchill. The air temperature at 08.00 was 1.4C but outside it felt more like -1C.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm had dropped to 2.4C at 08.00, the highest this month was 8.9C on the 2nd.