Author: Eric Gilbert

After the very wet and cool day on Tuesday, the sun returned on Wednesday, mainly after mid-day, that produced a warm and pleasant afternoon that saw the thermometer rise to 20.6C, which was 1.7C above at the average. The wind was from the northeast, predominantly, and lighter than previous days.

The change in wind direction is due to the depression having migrated eastwards to Scandinavia, and circulating anticlockwise, brings the wind from a northerly quadrant.

It was a dry day with the UV level of 4.6 at the top end of ‘Moderate’.

The overnight minimum of 10.5C was 1.2C above the average due to persistent cloud cover that minimised loss of warmth into the atmosphere.

Thursday dawned dull and cloudy with no sunshine at 08.00. The wind has backed a few degrees from Wednesday and is now lighter and from the north-northwest or northwest. The barometric pressure has begin to recover with a reading of 1013.0mb at 08.00.

Tuesday was a miserable, damp and cool day. The first few drops of rain began just before 10.30 and then persisted all day and well into the evening, when briefly it became heavier. There were a couple of hours after 01.00 this morning when there was slightly drier period before more light rain fell after 03.00. The total rainfall off 6.4mm was modest that brought the monthly total to 42.1mm when the monthly average is 66.9mm.

Due to the low cloud and rain, also the wind coming from the northeast, it was a very cool day compared to recent above average maxima days. The thermometer edged up just 2C during the daytime to a maximum of just 16.0C. This was a whole 10C bleep the Monday peak and 2.9C below the average making it the coolest day since 5th June (14.0C).

The diurnal range of temperatures, the difference between day and night, was only 2.5C. The minimum was 13.5C, which was 4.2C above average.

Wednesday dawned gloomy due to the hang-back of thick cloud from the depression in the English Channel.

Monday gave us a very warm day, due to the southerly breeze, that lifted the thermometer to 25.8C. This high was a significant 6.8C above the average and the warmest day since 27th August (26.3C). The strong sunshine also meant the UV edged higher with a value of 5.1, the highest since the end of August and in the ‘High’ category.

The past night was also mild with the low 4.5C above the average dropping to 13.8C just before 07.30 on Tuesday.

The new day arrived with grey skies and the wind having veered into the north late on Monday. With three consecutive dry days the humidity level has begun to fall with a value of 88% at 08.00, the lowest since 29th August. Whilst the humidity level has dropped the loss of equivalent rainfall, due to evaporation from the ground and plant life, has increased again, recently to over 2mm per day.

Sunday proved to be the second warmest day this month with the thermometer peaking at 22.5C, which was 3.6C above the 38-year average. There were many hours of strong sunshine during which the UV level rose to 5.0, just in the ‘High’ category, and the highest this month.

The east night was mild with the minimum logged at 00.05 with a low of 13.9C being 4.6C above he average.

Dawn on Monday revealed misty conditions with radiation fog forming for a brief period in the River Og Valley and River Kennet Valley. This had readily dispersed by 07.45. There were brief bright intervals after sunrise but by 08.15 the cloud had begun to thicken. The barometric pressure has begin to slip away with a reading at 08.00 of 1012.8mb, a drop of 7mb since Sunday morning.

The variable sunshine on Saturday boosted the temperature to 20.8C being 1.9C above average even though the very light breeze was from the north. The peak gust of 11mph was the lowest maximum gust since 26th July.

As the temperature dropped steadily overnight to a low of 8.9C, radiation fog formed. The minimum of 8.7C was logged at 05.41 being 0.6C below the average and the coolest night since 6th August (5.8C).

Af first light it was obvious that the fog was thick with visibility limited to less than 200m. However, the sun began to get to work shortly after dawn and by 07.45 there were visible signs of it beginning to thin. By 08.00 the temperature had recovered to 11.7C. The barometric pressure has eased a little higher again with a reading of 1019.5mb at 08.00 so a fine, dry and warm day should be ahead.