Author: Eric Gilbert

Christmas Eve was another mild day with an above average temperature (+1.3C) with peak of 9.3C, although 2C down on Thursday. Rain set in during the afternoon and evening amounting to 6.0mm making it the wettest twenty-four hours this month. That daily total took the monthly total to 36.5mm when the average os 92.2mm.

A mil night followed with a minimum of 6.9C being 4.6C above the average.

Christmas Day dawned dull, gloomy and with fog covering the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest from the low cloud base that limited visibility to 400mm at 08.00.

The barometric pressure has been rising since midnight but no drier spell is close as three weather fronts are ganging up on the UK bringing much rain later on Christmas Day.

Thursday saw the thermometer climb to 11.1C at 16.49 being 3.1C above the 37-year average and the warmest day since the 15th. Drizzle and light rain were sporadic during daylight hours amounting to 1.0mm, which bright the monthly total to 30.5mm when the average is 92.2mm.

Although the thermometer dropped away to a minimum of 5.8C overnight at 00.46, which was 3.5C above average, it recovered to 6.9C at 08.00 on Friday.

Friday arrived dull and gloomy with low cloud and calm conditions. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1005.5mb, the lowest pressure since the 10th.

After a sharp frost, with a minimum -3.2C on Wednesday morning, the thermometer slowly rose above freezing to reach 4.8C being 3.2C below average.

It was a dry day but yet another sunless day, the tenth this month.

The thermometer has continued to rise for the past twenty-four hours as a southerly air stream set in so that by 08.00 on Thursday the temperature had reached 7.2C.

Thursday dawned without another start to the day dominated by low, thick cloud that meant fog had returned restricting visibility to 200m. The barometric pressure has lost in excess of 30mb since the high on the 17th with a current reading at 08.00 of 1008.2mb.

Tuesday was the coldest day since the 2nd with a minimum of 4.9C being 3C below the average. The wind was very light, maximum gust of just 8mph, and had veered into the east and south-southeast overnight.

The thermometer dropped rapidly during the evening to reach a low of -3.2C at 21.41 before rising to -2.2C at 22.30 and stayed round that temperature for most of the night. Just before dawn the thermometer began to slowly rise so that at 08.00 on Wednesday the temperature read -1.0C.

Wednesday arrived with thin, high cloud and the barometric pressure continuing to slowly fall away.

With no sunshine and no UV registered on Monday combined with a northeasterly ar moment it was not surprising to find thither thermometer struggled to reach 5.4C being 2.6C blw average. We have now had five successive days with progressively cooler maxima, being 12.4C, 10.6C, 9.2C, 8.4C, 5.5C and 5.4C on Monday.

It was another day without measurable rainfall although very light drizzle was observed in the morning.

A minimum of 3.2C was recorded overnight, the low, thick cloud stopped any frost from forming. The diurnal range was exceptionally small with a variation between day and night of just 2.2C

Tuesday dawned dull, dark and gloomy with the low, thick cloud still persisting. The barometric pressure has been slowly ebbing away for the last five days as the anticyclone left the UK with a reading of 1025.6mb at 08.00, down 15mb from its peak on Friday.