Author: Eric Gilbert

The wind from the north-northeast and northeast on Friday depressed the temperature and produced a wind chill. The maximum of 14.6C was 2.5C below average and outside in the strong breeze, gusting to 27mph, meant it felt at least 1C lower.

The thick cloud arrived overnight from the North Sea on the northeasterly wind, as a result the minimum of 8.0C was 1.2C above the average.

Saturday revealed the thick and total cloud cover that had rolled in from the NorthSea. The temperature at 08.00 was 8.4C, the coolest start to a day at that time since the 2nd (8.2C). The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm was 10.7C at 08.00, the lowest since the 4th (9.9C). The wind continues from the northeasterly direction due to the anticyclone still over the country with a ridge of high pressure with its centre over Northumbria. The wind circling in an anticlockwise direction means the air has traveled over the North Sea, which is cold at this time of year and also picks up moisture, hence the thick cloud cover.

Although the breeze, gusting to 17mph, came from the northwest on Thursday, a cooler direction, the thermometer did eventually creep above average. The maximum of 17.7C was logged late in the afternoon at 17.21 being 0.6C above the average.

After the previous very wet days the ground has been saturated so now sucprise that evaporation from ground sources and plant life has increased to the equivalent loss of rainfall of over 2mm on each of the last two days.

The rainfall radar on Thursday afternoon showed a number of shower cells springing up over southern England but staying almost stationary, unlike previous day when they were driven along by a brisk breeze. Several cells occurred to the east and north of Marlborough but not overhead so a dry day was enjoyed in the garden.

The overnight minimum of 8.0C was the lowest since the 3rd but still 1.2C above he average.

Friday arrived with total cloud cover and the wind brisk and from the north-northeast producing a modest windchill. A ridge of high pressure runs northeastwards from mid Atlantic to Scandinavia producing the change in wind direction.

It was a dry day on Wednesday with many hours of welcome sunshine and the peak UV level of 7.2 was in the ‘Very High’ category for the first tine this year. The brisk wind from the west, gusting to 20mph, limited the warmth so the maximum of 17.1C was exactly average for May.

The past night was similar to the previous night with a minimum of 8.5C being 1.8C above average.

Thursday brought intermittent strong sunshine at the beginning of the day. However, the centre of the depression has migrated to the southern North Sea, as a result the breeze will veer from the west into the northwest, a slightly cooler direction.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has been averaging 12C for the past week so, combined with the rainfall, makes good growing conditions for gardeners – if we could just get on the garden with a couple of consecutive dry days!

Most of Tuesday was fine, with some sunshine, but the warmth meant showers built up in the late afternoon with thunder heard at 17.16 followed by heavy rain that lasted until just after 21.30. Hail was observed at 17.25, classed as ‘small’ by the Meteorological Office, being less than 5mm in diameter. Another 10.1mm of precipitation yesterday took the monthly total to 49.6mm being 82% of the 39-year May average.

The sunshine lifted the temperature to a peak of 18.2C at 16.10 being 1.0C above the average. The overnight minimum of 8.8C was logged at 02.45 early Wednesday that lifted to 11.0C by 08.00, which was 1.9C above the average.

The barometric pressure dropped to 1009.5mb on Tuesday, the lowest since 23rd April, as another depression ganged up on the UK, moving closer in from the Atlantic.

Initially Wednesday arrived with total cloud cover but shortly after 07.40 sunshine broke through the gaps in the variable cloud cover. The centre of the depression this morning is just off the west coast of Scotland, not a deep depression thankfully, and will continue the westerly breeze, but light as yesterday. This unstable airstream will mean that further showers will build as the temperature rises. As the warming air rises it cools and the moisture contained in it condenses into showers. If the updraft is strong the raindrops will rise very high into much cooler air and then form hail.

Monday brought us another wet day with intermittent rain in the morning but a much wider and persistent rain band crossed the area starting at 1835 and ending at 23.30. The daily rainfall amounted to 16.4mm, the wettest day since 31st March (28.7mm) and took the monthly total to 39.5mm being 65% of the 39-year average and only eight days into the month.

Not surprisingly it was a very cool day with the maximum of 14.1C some 3.0C below the 39-year average. Also no surprise that the UV level of 3.8 was rated as ‘Moderate’, the second lowest this month.

Once again the thick cloud cover gave us a mild night with the thermometer not dropping below 11.7C at 05.51 early Tuesday, which was 4.9C above the long-term average.

Tuesday dawned dull and cloudy but dry. There were a couple of very brief glimpses of sunshine just before 08.00 but soon eclipsed by the continuous cloud cover. The temperature at 08.00 read 12.5C, the warmest start to a day at that time since 30th October