Author: Eric Gilbert

Sunday saw the thermometer rise to a maximum of 10.5C being 2.7C above the 38-year average in the limited sunshine of 1.9 hours.

The temperature began to fall away during the evening to reach a low of 0.8C at 07.10 on Monday being 07C below the average.

Monday began with welcome sunshine after the sun rose above the horizon.

A ridge of high pressure has been building over the past twenty-four hours that has seen a rise of 22mb with a pressure of 1027.5mb at 08.00, the highest since the end of January.

Saturday was dry and breezy also mild again with a peak 9.4C (+1.6C).

In the early hours of Sunday a cold front arrived and brought 10.1mm of rainfall making it the wettest day since 25th December. Between 07.00 and 08.15, as the cold front eased away to the east, the wind was very strong gusting to a peak of 37mph, which was the strongest gust since 27th November.

After 08.15 on Sunday brightness was observed to the west as the hang back of cloud from the weather front eased away to the east. The wind also began to calm down.

The barometric pressure has been falling for the past twenty-four hours, rapidly in the past few hours, with a reading of 1005.5mb at 08.00, the lowest pressure for a month.

The weather settled down on Friday after the squall and heavy rain that ceased just after 09.00 with the sun coming out for 4 hours. The brisk westerly wind pegged back the temperature to a peak of 9.2C, however this was still 1.4C above the 38-year average.

A ground frost occurred in the early hours of Saturday, but not an air frost, with a minimum of 1.5C at 05.26.

Saturday brought a little brightness first thing but there was a lot of cloud cover. The thermometer had recovered to 3.4C at 08.00. The barometric pressure had recovered to 1022.2mb at 08.00

After a quiet, mild day on Thursday, with a maximum of 11.1C being 3.3C above average, a mild night followed with the thermometer not sinking below 9.1C, that is until 07.10 on Friday.

During the early hours of Friday a cold front approached the area. At 07.10, when the thermometer read 9.1C, the first spots of rain were observed. At 07.16 a dramatic squall arrived, the wind gusted to 27mph and changed direction abruptly from southwest to north. The temperature plummeted form 9.1C to 5.5C within 15 minutes and by 08.00 had dropped to 2.8C. At that time there was an element of wind chill so that outside it felt more like 0C. Within 30 minutes, as the front passed over the area, the barometric pressure rose 2mb. At 07.16 the rain fell very heavily, at a rate of 50mm/hour for a brief period. By 08.00 3.9mm of precipitation had been recorded. As the storm abated small flakes of sleet or snow were observed. By 08.20 calm had returned as the front eased away eastwards!

Both the maximum of 12.6C (+3.8C) and the overnight minimum of 6.0C (+4.5C) were above average on Wednesday. It was another dry day with the UV of 1.2 being, not surprisingly in early February, classed as ‘Low’. We enjoyed 4.4 hours of very welcome sunshine.

Thursday dawned with a totally cloudy sky and almost calm conditions, the wind continuing to come from the southwest or west-southwest. The barometric pressure has fallen away as the anticyclone eases away, with a reading of 1015.5mb at 08.00. This is a fall of 9mb since this time on Wednesday, the lowest it has been since 9th January.