Author: Eric Gilbert

Brief showers in the early morning on Wednesday and again on Thursday produced 5.6mm of rainfall making it the wettest day since 13th January. That took the February total to 11.4mm, far below the 39-year average of 67.2mm.

After a warm day on Wednesday with the wind from the west, the thermometer reached 10.2C being 2.2C above the average. Overnight the wind veered into the north and north-northeast that brought the temperature down to a minimum of 3.5C just after midnight at 00.05, by 08.00 that had recovered to 4.7C.

Thursday at first light revealed steady rain and the colder northerly wind gusting to 23mph, that meant a wind chill so outside it felt more like 2C than 4.7C.

The thick, low cloud brought moist air hanging about all morning, draping the hills, until 14.20 when a clearance arrived and modest sunshine lifted the temperature 9.7C being 1.7C above the average. Incidentally, only one day in February, the 8th, had a maximum below the average.

Rain showers triggered the automatic rain gauge at 00.15 Wednesday bringing 3.3mm of rainfall. This was the wettest day since 15th January (4.0mm) and took the monthly total to 5.8mm well, below the 39-year average of 67.2mm.

Wednesday at first light revealed the back edge of the weather front, low, thick cloud, with light rain falling until 07.40, followed by light drizzle.

The barometric pressure at 07.30 read 1011.0mb, the lowest pressure at that time since 19th January.

The flow of moist, but warm Atlantic air continued on Monday but with no sunshine meant a cooler day although the maximum of 11.3C was still 3.3C above the average. There was no rain and without sunshine no wonder the UV level was low with a value of just 1.2.

Tuesday at first light revealed that fog had formed overnight limiting visibly initially to 300m, but this eased by 08.00 to 500m.

The anticyclone that has influenced our weather for over two weeks has all but disappeared so this is likely to be the last dull, warm and moist day with the air movement continuing from the southwest. Change is around the corner from Wednesday.

The glorious sunshine on Sunday meant a warm day and thus produced the greatest equivalent of daily rainfall loss, 1.01mm, through evaporation from ground sources and plant life, since 26th October. The evaporation this month equals an equivalent loss of 10mm of rainfall when the actual rainfall total is just 2.5mm.

The sunshine felt quite warm and boosted the temperature to 12.5C, which was 4.5C above the average. During the evening the thermometer dropped to 5.3C at 20.25 before advancing cloud stopped the fall and produced a rise of a degree that by 08.00 on Monday read 7.1C.

At first light on Monday it was obvious that the warm and moist air had returned with low, thick cloud masking the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest. As the centre of the anticyclone is still relatively close, over Brittany, the barometric pressure is still quite high with a reading of 1026.0mb at 08.00. The position of the high pressure will mean the air movement will back a few degrees and come from the southwest today, still feeding in the mild, moist airstream.

Saturday brought little sunshine with the cool westerly breeze gusting to 27mph, the strongest gust for a month. The maximum of 11.7C brought the coolest day for a week but still 3.7C above the average. Once again there was no overnight frost with the thermometer not sinking below 5.6C at 05.54, which was 4.0C above the average.

Sunday dawned a little brighter thanks to temporary ridge of high pressure that meant the cloud was more broken, higher and thinner. The barometric pressure had risen to 1028.4mb at 08.00, the highest since the 12th.