Author: Eric Gilbert

After a cold start on Friday the thermometer hovered around 10C after midday but overnight an extensive rain band crossed our area that saw the thermometer rise further to 13.2C at 08.00 Saturday. There has been a 10C temperature difference between 08.00 Friday and Saturday.

Another 10.6mm of precipitation has been recorded overnight that has raised the monthly total 109.6mm, which is 121% of the 39-year average or plus 19mm.

Saturday arrived dull and wet from the hang back of cloud and light rain from the extensive weather front brought by another depression to the west of the UK, heading east over Scotland. The morning and day will improve as the last of the cloud thins and begins break up towards midday. The barometric pressure has dropped 10mb since yesterday and continues to fall as the depression gets closer. The southwesterly air movement, very calm at 08.00, is bringing more tropical air from the Atlantic.

After a damp morning on Thursday the rain eased after midday and the cloud thinned but no strong sunshine. As a result, and due to the easterly air movement in the morning, later westerly, the thermometer only rose to 7.4C some 2.8C below the 39-year average and the coldest day since the 10th March.

Another 3.0mm of precipitation was recorded taking the monthly rainfall to 99.0mm being 8.9mm above the long-term average.

The temperature hovered around 5C for much of the early hours but just after 05.00, as the cloud eased away eastwards, the thermometer began to slowly fall reaching a minimum of 2.8C at 07.47 on Friday.

Friday dawned with radiation fog filling the River Og valley limiting visibility to 200m but began to clear rapidly after 07.00. The sun began to shine brightly after it had risen above the horizon. A temporary ridge of high pressure will give a fine and dry day but all change again tonight with more rain arriving in the evening.

Wednesday gave us a dry day with an above average (+1.2C) maximum of 11.4C but during the evening the thermometer steadily fell downwards to reach a minimum of 3.8C (-0.1C) at 01.16 early Thursday. The thermometer then did an about turn and began to rise again reaching 5.6C at 08.00 Thursday. All this activity was due to the advancing cloud from another weather front associated with a depression that is running along the English Channel. Wednesday was only the third completely dry day this month.

The depression is running eastwards along the English Channel but further south than originally forecast yesterday. As a result the intense and prolonged rain is to the south of our region so we will get off lightly today. The first gentle spots of rain were observed at 07.55. The wind at 07.30 was coming from the east but as the day progresses and the low moves eastwards the wind will back from east through to north then eventually this evening come from the west or southwest.

After a wet morning on Tuesday that produced another 7.0mm of rainfall it brightened up in the afternoon with some late afternoon sunshine. The monthly rainfall now stands at 96.0mm when the 39-year average is 90.9mm. The thermometer rose to 10.9C in the light southwesterly breeze, which was 0.7C above the average. The minimum of 6.8C was 2.9C above the average.

Only two days on November have produced a maximum below average and just three nights have been below the average. This has been due to the succession of depressions arriving from the Atlantic bringing moist, warm air.

Wednesday began bright with hazy sunshine and the barometric pressure of 1017.1mb at 08.00 the highest this month and in fact since 16th October. It won’t last, as currently there are six low pressure centres surrounding the UK with more unsettled weather for Thursday.

With no rainfall on Monday we did not feel the full effect of Storm Debi although it was a very breezy day with the wind often gusting over 20mph and a peak gust of 32mph. The storms that occurred were to the north with an intense one over the Swindon area early evening, I know because I drove through it, just missing Marlborough again.

After a very warm start to the day at 14.1C the temperature slowly fell a few degrees, but a very mild night followed with an overnight low of 9.5C being 5.6C above the 39-year average.

Tuesday dawned with thin but total cloud cover. There are four low pressure systems circling the UK so we can expect another unsettled day with the possibility of more showers although mild again thanks to the southwesterly breeze, that will shortly veer into the west, however, much less strong than on Monday.

Incidentally, Storm Debi occurred at the earliest point in a storm season that the letter D has been reached in the alphabet. The storm season in the UK starts on 1st September each year.