Author: Eric Gilbert

The temporary ridge of high pressure gave a fine day on Wednesday that saw the thermometer rise to 24.9C being 2.3C above the average and the first above average since 9th July and the warmest since 7th July (27.9C). It was a dry day, the first in ten days, with very light winds from the west, the strongest gust was just 10mph. The overnight minimum of 12.1C was also above average (+0.3C).

Thursday arrived with welcome sunshine after the sun crossed the horizon lifting the temperature to 17.1C by 08.00. The barometric pressure has risen slightly with a reading of 1019.5mb at 08.00, but later today will begin to decline.

With precipitation that started just before 07.00 and finished just after 22.00, Tuesday was more like Autumn. The rate of rainfall was light but was almost continuous, easing in the evening but still outbreaks of light rain until late evening that amounted to just 2.8mm. The conditions meant a cool day with the temperature struggling to reach a maximum of 18.1C being 4.5C below average and the coolest for a fortnight. At least the past night was mild thanks to the cloud with a low of 12.5C, which was 0.7C above the average.

Wednesday dawned with fog that limited visibility to 300m initially. By 07.15 there was a little brightness but no sunshine and by 08.00 the low cloud had lifted considerably. The barometric pressure has started to rise as the depression eases away so there is hope for a couple of better days ahead.

Once again the maximum of 20.9C was below average (-1.7C) as the changeable weather continued. There was sunshine during Monday but overnight another weather system arrived that brought light rain and drizzle from 06.50 that amounted to 0.7mm. The minimum of 11.4C was just 0.4C below average.

The overcast sky with variable drizzle and light rain greeted the new day and from the radar looks to continue for much of the daytime. The wind has one again backed into the southwest for much of the day but very light.

The sunshine on Sunday helped lift the temperature but the cool northwesterly pegged back the rise to 19.7C, which was 2.9C below the average for August. The clear skies overnight allowed the temperature to fall away steadily to a minimum of 7.6C, which was 4.2C below the average. Further rain fell late afternoon adding another 1.1mm to the total, now standing at 30.2mm, almost half the monthly average.

Monday had welcome sunshine to greet the day that lifted the temperature to 14.2C. The barometric pressure has been rising a little further to reach 1021.4mb at 08.00, the highest since the 19th July.

Storm Antoni gave us ten hours of rainfall amounting to 13.1mm that took the monthly total to 29.1mm, almost half the long-term average. The centre of the depression was immediately above our area that saw the barometric pressure drop to 1001.1mb just before midday. The cloudy conditions meant a cool day, not aided my strong southerly winds gusting to a peak of 28mph. The skies began to clear late evening that allowed the temperature to drop to 9.4C being 2.4C below average.

As we were under the centre of the storm we did not experience the extreme wind gusts that occurred around the outer edges of the storm, but we did have the wettest day since 22nd July.

Sunday, thankfully, arrived with sunshine after dawn that lifted the thermometer to 13.4C by 08.00. The barometric pressure has been rising overnight with a rise of 17mb from the low point with a pressure of 1018.1mb at 08.00. Now that the depression is to the east of the UK, the wind has veered back into the northwest.