Author: Eric Gilbert

The maximum of 13.1C on Saturday was 1C below the average but Sunday will be cooler and by Monday it will feel distinctly cold as the Artic air streams down across the country. The past night was reactively mild with a low of 7.9C being 4.2C above the average

A little rain rain fell in the past twenty-four hours amounting to 1.9mm that took the monthly rainfall total 57.2mm and exceeded the 39-year average by just 0.6mm.

Sunday revealed another cloudy start to the day, there was the odd, brief glimpse of brightness. The wind will veer into the northwest today before veering further into the north tomorrow morning. The much colder Arctic airstream is forecast to arrive overnight that will see a couple of very cold days for April, possibly a maximum as much as 5C below average.

The persistent cloud cover combined with the brisk northeasterly breeze meant a cold day on Friday with the thermometer not rising above 9.4C, which was a significant 4.7C below the 39-year average.

Light rain began to fall just after 12.15 that produced 0.6mm of precipitation and took the monthly total to 55.3mm, just below the average off 56.6mm.

The wind veered into the southeast late in the day that combined with less cloud saw the thermometer drop steadily during the evening to reach a minimum of -1.7C at 05.38 early Saturday. This was the second coldest night in April.

Saturday dawned with fog that initially limited visibility to around 500m but by 07.30 was dispersing. Broken sunshine soon followed but the thermometer had only reached 0.5C by 08.00. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1006.1mb, the lowest pressure for a week.

Thursday was much as Wednesday and Tuesday with modest hours of sunshine and dry but the strong northeasterly persisted, gusting to 33mph, the strongest gust since the 13th.

The many hours of sunshine lifted the temperature steadily to a peak of 14.4C, which was just 0.3C above the average. The sunshine disappeared early evening as cloud from the next weather front eased in from the east and produced a little rain from 2000 to 2030 amounting to 0.3mm.

The cloud from the weather front limited the temperature fall overnight with a minimum of 5.0C being 1.3C above the average.

Friday dawned dull and grey with another weather front crossing the area and rain threatening from mid-morning. The wind continues from the northeast but is forecast to veer into the southeast as the afternoon progresses. However. The temperature of 6.2C at 0800 felt more like 5C due to wind chill. A change is afoot as the pressure has dropped considerably in the last twenty-four hours with a reading of 1014.2mb at 0800, down 10 mb since yesterday.

The flow of brisk, cool air from the northeast continued on Wednesday although the several hours of sunshine lifted the maximum above average (+0.8C) with a peak of 14.9C. It was another dry day with Moderate levels of UV light.

The modest level of sunshine and drying northeasterly breeze saw the loss of equivalent rainfall through evaporation from ground sources and plant life increase to 2.2mm.

It was cool overnight due to clearing skies that saw the thermometer drop to 2.9C at 05.20 early Thursday being 0.8C below the 39-year average.

We were greeted on Thursday after dawn with glorious sushine the lifted the temperature to 6.2C by 08.00. The barometric pressure remains high with a reding of 1024.2mb at 08.00, a small drop of 5mb since the high on Monday.

The wind on Tuesday was brisk, gusting to 31mph and from the northeast, a cold direction. After one day with an above average maximum on Tuesday it was a below average again with a peak of just 13.6C (-0.5C). At least the cloud overnight helped retain a little warmth from the daytime as the thermometer did not drop below 6.4C, which was 2.7C above the average.

Tuesday was a dry day, only the eighth this month, with the UV level at ‘Moderate’.

Wednesday revealed that the continuing northeasterly had dragged more cloud across the region after picking up moisture as the airstream crossed the North Sea where the sea temperature is just 8C, so no wonder it feels distinctly cool outside. The high pressure is still ridging from Scandinavia to the Bay of Biscay and not moving or losing much pressure, so today is likely to be similar to Tuesday, but possibly less sunshine.