Author: Eric Gilbert

Friday brought reduced sunshine, just 1.9 hours, but the southwesterly air flow meant another very mild day with the maximum of 13.6C being 3.5C above the 37-year average.

Light rain fell in the early evening from a fragmented rain area that produced another 1.7mm of rainfall.

The thermometer did not fall below 10.2C overnight, which was 6.4C above the average.

Saturday dawned with total cloud cover but was thinner and higher than previous days. The wind has veered into the west bringing a slightly drier air with the humidity at 08.00 of 89% whereas most days this month have been in the high 90s.

Thursday brought another mild day with the thermometer once again well above average (+4.2C) with a peak of 14.3C. It was another dry.

The temperature fell away in the evening to a minimum of 8.2C at 00.44 on Friday morning being also above average (+4.4C). However, from that time the thermometer gradually recovered as cloud built up again to give a temperature at 08.00 on Friday of 11.8C being the warmest start to a day at that time since 28th October.

The rain began just after 06.00 on Friday from a wide but fragmented rain band that continued until 08.00 producing 3.1mm of rainfall. This brought the monthly rainfall total to just 7.2mm when the average is 91.7mm.

The barometric pressure has been falling steadily over the past twenty four hours under the influence of a depression easing in from the Atlantic currently centred off the west cast of Scotland. The pressure at 08.00 read 1011.6mb, a drop of almost 13mb since Thursday at 08.00.

Wednesday was a day to forget, weatherise, with no sunshine and almost continuous misty conditions with light drizzle from time to time.

The very light southwesterly air flow continued the run of very mild, moist air with the flow off the Atlantic, that lifted the temperature to a maximum of 13.6C being 3.5C above average.

There was a little light rain that started at 1815 and continued briefly to 1900 providing 1.1mm of precipitation.

Once again the minimum overnight was significantly above average (+6.9C) with a low of 10.7C.

Thursday, as on Wednesday, dawned with low cloud and mist shrouding the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest. The centre of the high pressure is now over Brittany that this morning will continue the southwesterly air flow that is forecast to back into the south this afternoon, still a warm, moist air flow.

Under the influence of the warm air mass brought on the southwesterly light breeze, the thermometer rose to 14.7C. This peak was a significant 4.6C above the 37-year average and the warmest day since 28th October. The day was dry but a light shower in the early hours of Wednesday produced 1.0mm of precipitation that brought the monthly total to just 3.0mm.

The past night has been exceptionally mild with the thermometer only very slowly falling to a low of 10.8C at 05.41 on Wednesday morning. This minimum was 7C above the average minimum and more exceptionally 0.7C above the average daytime maximum.

Dawn on Wednesday revealed low, thick cloud shrouding the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Frost in still air conditions.

Tuesday brought an almost identical peak temperature as Monday with a maximum of 11.8C in the very light southwesterly breeze. The high was 1.7C above the average and the strongest gust of breeze was just 10mph.

It was another dry day with just 1.5 hours of logged sunshine.

The thermometer held steady around 11C in the evening until just after midnight when it fell away to a minimum of 8.3C at 07.04 on Wednesday morning. This low was 4.5C above the 37-year average. Much sunshine was in evidence shortly after dawn in a predominantly blue sky with minimal cloud. The barometric pressure continues high bring the settled weather.