Author: Eric Gilbert

Thursday saw the thermometer rise to 11.6C being 4.6C above the 37-year average and the warmest day since the 1st. The morning saw a weather front crossing the area producing very light drizzle amounting to 0.2mm. During the afternoon the sun broke through in variable cloud, for 1.8 hours.

Clearing skies overnight meant another air frost with the thermometer dropping to -2.1C at 07.09 on Friday.

Friday morning dawned with a band of cloud easing eastwards and variable light cloud.

The centre of the anticyclone has moved closer, now approaching the west coast of Brittany, with the resultant rise in barometric pressure to 1037.0mb at 08.00. This is an increase of 10mb during the past twenty-four hours.

After five consecutive days without sunshine the sun made a welcome return on Wednesday. The cloud began to thin and lift around 10.00 and by 11.00 was shining brightly. There were 3.2 hours of sunshine.

It was the fifteenth consecutive dry day making it the longest dry period since the end of August begging of September 2021. The UV light level rose to 0.9, the highest since 17th November.

The temperature dropped to 4.8C at 18.00 and then began to rise slowly to reach a maximum of 8.2C.

Thursday arrived with the return of cloud, this time from a cold front traversing the country. The barometric pressure has fallen almost 10 mb since Wednesday with a reading of 1027.6mb at 08.00 as the centre of the anticyclone drifts away.

Another gloomy, dull day on Tuesday with both the maximum of 3.9C (-3.1C) and minimum of 0.8C (-0.5C) below the average.

It was the fourth consecutive sunless day due to the relentless cloud trapped under the high pressure system It was also the fourteenth consecutive dry day.

The temperature eased upwards from late evening from 0.9 C to 3.6C at 08.00 on Wednesday.

Wednesday at first light saw a repeat of previous days with thick cloud cover, if a little higher.

The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm has recovered from freezing with a low of -1.8C on the 21st to 2.8C today.

Yet another dull, dark and gloomy day on Monday with yet again no sunshine. The air was stagnant for many hours with the anemometer only very occasionally slowly turning with the strongest movement logged at 7mph and from the SE.

It was another cold day with the thermometer not moving all day with a maximum of 3.3C being 3.7C below average. Just after 16.00 the temperature began to ease downwards to produce a minimum of 0.7C, which was 0.6C below the average.

Tuesday began just as the previous three day with heavy, dark low cloud and no air movement to disturb the cloud.

The centre of the anticyclone is now just north of the Canary Islands so any air movement will come from the west or west-northwest.

We have now experienced thirteen consecutive dry days.

Sunday was cold and dull with the thick, low cloud persistent all day trapped under the high pressure system. The temperature by day rose to just 4.0C, being 3C below average and overnight a minimum of 2.9C being 1.6C above the average.

The monthly rainfall total is just 28.1mm. This is only 31% of the 37-year average or 62.7mm below. With little rain forecast before the end of the month, January 2022 is gong to be one of the driest. However, there were three drier Januarys since records began 1984 with just 9.4mm on 1997.

The gloomy conditions persisted into Monday with thick, low could and very little wind. The breeze has backed a little further and now coming from the east or south south-east. Pressure remans high with a reading of 1033.6mb at 08.00.

The diurnal temperature range over the past twenty-four hours has been unusually limited with a difference of just 2.4C.