Author: Eric Gilbert

It was a little cooler on Monday but still above average (+3.0C) with a high of 11.0C. The past night was also mild. The temperature dropped away to 6.9C at 17.20 Monday evening before beginning to climb again as the thick cloud, ahead of the next depression, moved in resulting in a temperature of 9.0C at 08.00 Tuesday.

There was torrential rain observed at 02.30 early Tuesday that amounted to 9.5mm taking the monthly total to 65.2mm being 70% of the long-term average.

Tuesday arrived with total cloud cover and sporadic rain mid-morning. The barometric pressure had dropped low again at 08.00 to 999.1mb as the centre of the next depression was almost overhead Tuesday morning. As it exits southeast later today the wind will come round to northeast on Wednesday.

Sunday was another very wet and windy day thanks to Storm Fergus that deposited another 3.6mm of rainfall although it was another very mild day. The thermometer crept upwards to a maximum of 11.7C at 13.48 before slowly falling during the evening to reach a low of 8.3C at 07.44 on Monday making it the warmest night since 21st November. The maximum get of wind was 30mph, down on the peak of 33mph on Saturday.

Monday arrived with broken sunshine with the promise of a drier day before the next depression arrives on Tuesday.

The mild, moist air pushed the thermometer to 12.3C on Saturday. That was a significant 4.3C above the 39-year average with the minimum of 7.3C, that occurred at 03.57 in the early hours of Sunday, being 5.0C above the long-term average. The rainfall on Saturday ceased mid-morning adding another 1.8mm to the monthly total, now 52.1mm, the rest of the day was fine as Storm Elin eased away to the northeast. The minimum barometric pressure was 991.0mb, the lowest since 10th November.

Sunday revealed a cloudy sky, if thin and relatively high but beginning to show signs of thickening as another storm is closing in, this time Storm Fergus, named by Met Eireann with heavy rain late morning. The wind has backed a few degrees no mainly coming from the southwest.

The southwesterly breeze on Friday meant a very mild day that saw the thermometer rise to 10.3C at 13.03, which was 2.3C above the average. The temperature then fell lowly to a minimum of 6.7C just after midnight at 00.30 before rising again as the next weather band arrived, lifting to 9.4C at 08.00 on Saturday.

Rain began to fall from the latest depression at 02.40 that had accumulated 16.3mm by 08.00 on Saturday taking the month rainfall total 50.3mm being 54% of the 39-year average,

Saturday began dark and very wet again as the back end of the very wide rain band crossed the area with rain still falling steadily at 08.00.The centre of the depression is over northern Ireland and moving across Scotland with a centre low of 998mb. Our pressure reading at 08.00 was 992.1mb, the lowest since the 10th December.

The southerly breeze, gusting to 29mph, meant a mild day on Thursday with a maximum of 8.8C being 0.9C above the average. The thermometer hovered around 6.5C during the daytime but in the evening slowly rose to the maximum of 8.8C at 20.39 before slowly falling back again. It was a dull and damp day as the 100 mile wide rain band slowly crossed our area with another 4.1mm of precipitation taking the monthly total to 34.0m, the average is 92.7mm.

Friday arrived with brightness and the promise of some sunshine, if muted at this time in December. The depression to the west of Ireland will mean the wind will come from the southwest for most of the day.