Author: Eric Gilbert

The dry and warm weather continued over the last twenty-four hours with both maximum of 23.8C and minimum 10.8C above average being +3.6C and + 0.7C respectively.

The ridge of high pressure, reaching from North Africa to Norway, has been building further, now the highest for a week with a reading of 1019.5mb at 08.00 Thursday.

It is mid-summer so no surprises that the UV level of 8.3 was rated Very High and the highest level since 13th July 2022.

Radiation fog greeted Thursday morning with visibility limited to 400m in the River Og and River Kennet Valleys. Just before 07.00 the fog began to roll in from the northeast and was down to 300m before the sun began to break through just before 07.45. BY 08.00 the fog had retreated considerably into misty conditions.

The cloud on Tuesday slowly thinned after the three hours of rain and the sun broke through after 13.00 lifting the temperature to 23.4C being 3.2C above the average. The UV level rose to 8.2, well into the ‘Very High’ category and the highest all year – but it is mid-summer!

The past night was cool with a minimum of 10.8C at 05.04 early on Wednesday.

Wednesday initially brought welcome early sunshine but by 07.30 cloud began to obscure much of the sunshine. The barometric pressure has recovered 9mb since yesterday as pressure begins to rise again with a reading of 1015.8mb at 08.00. The breeze is forecast to back into the southwest today after a westerly for much of yesterday after midday.

Monday once again gave us many hours of strong sunshine that lifted the thermometer to 24.2C being 4.0C above the average. However, during the early hours of Tuesday there was a dramatic change. A large area of intense rain triggered the automatic rain gauge at 04.30 that lasted until 07.30. Just after 06.00 there was intense rainfall that fell at the rate of 110mm/hour and was so heavy that it knocked over some of my bread beans. The daily rainfall amounted to 26.6mm making it the wettest day since 19th December 2022 (29.8mm). The monthly rainfall total is now 56.7mm, being 2.5mm above the 39-year average.

The minimum temperature overnight occurred at 03.02 with a low of 13.6C, thereafter the temperature began to climb as the cloud arrived ahead of the rain.

By 08.00 on Tuesday the rained had stopped and the cloud was beginning to lift a little as the weather front moved northwards. The wind had veered from the south on Monday to north ahead of the rain band and will be variable today but principally from the west.

The barometric pressure is currently at its lowest for two months with a pressure of 1006.1mb at 08.00 thanks to the depression that arrived from the Atlantic.

After a bright start to Sunday, with a maximum of 24.8C being 4.6C above the average, clouds began to build late afternoon. At 18.50 the first spots of rain appeared that was followed by two hours of continuous rain amounting to 15.1mm. This was the wettest day since 8th May (16.4mm) and took the monthly total to 30.3mm, which is 24mm below the 39-year average. The rain was very welcome by gardeners being steady and modest in strength. The storm cells arrived from the south and lingered over the area and intensified as initially the rain radar indicated that the nearest cell would pass over in a few minutes.

The residual warmth and cloud cover meant a mild night with the thermometer not dropping below 12.4C at 05.04 Monday, which was 2.3C above the average.

Monday dawned cloudy and misty after the considerable rainfall. The thermometer had recovered to 16.2C at 08.00. The barometric pressure was at its lowest all month yesterday at 1009.6mb and recovered 1mb overnight.

Just after 08.00 on Saturday there was a very light, gentle shower that amounted to just 0.2mm. The thermometer rose to 26.2C being 6.0C above the average.

The breeze was slack all day with a maximum gust of just 12mph.The UV level was again high as for all the month.

The past night was very warm due to the residual warmth and cloud cover that produced a minimum of 13.2C, which was 3.1C above the 39-year average.

Sunday revealed a sky with variable cloud and occasional brief bursts of sunshine that had lifted the thermometer to 18.3C at 08.00. The barometric pressure has sunk to its lowest all month with a reading of 1009.6mb at 08.00 due to the approaching depression.