Author: Eric Gilbert

Sunday saw the thermometer rise to 11.7C in the modest breeze that varied between west-southwest and west-northwest. This peak was 1.6C above the 37-year average. It was the fifth dry day this month.

The thermometer dipped overnight to give a minimum 1.4C just before dawn being 2.4C below the November average.

Monday brought a little brightness first thing but encroaching cloud from the west, in advance of a warm weather front, meant no strong sunshine. The centre of the high pressure, holding high again, is just to the west of Portugal and will bring a breeze from the southwest today.

Saturday by day and night produced temperatures above the average with a peak of 12.3C (+2.1C) and 5.3C (+1.5C) at 07.11 on Sunday.

It was not quite a dry day as a very light shower passed this way just after 2100 producing 0.4mm of precipitation. The monthly rainfall total stands at 2.0mm during this dryer period after the very wet October, with minimal rain forecast in the near future.

Sunday brought light, high cloud that allowed some brightness but no sunshine after dawn. The barometric pressure remains relatively high with a reading at 08.00 of 1023.0mb having fallen a few millibars since the Saturday peak of 1029.8mb.

The temperature recovered slightly on Friday with a peak of 10.0C being just 0.1C below average due to the change in wind direction, then from the southwest. However, with thick cloud cover and a mild Atlantic airstream from the southwest the diurnal temperature (variation between day and night) was just 1.6C as the thermometer only dropped to a minimum of 8.4C overnight, which was 4.6C above the 37-year average.

Saturday arrived with thick cloud in place and no morning sunshine. The barometric pressure is currently at highest since 13th October with a reading at 08.00 of 1027.9mb. Usually a ridge of high pressure brings fine weather, however, we have the minimal wind conditions but much cloud is trapped below the anticyclone.

The temperatures by day have been falling since the 1st with a maximum of just 8.4C on Thursday, which was 1.7C below the 37-year average being the coldest day since 7th April, but it is Autumn. It was another dry day, the third consecutive after the very wet October, with 3.5 hours of sunshine.

The thermometer slowly fell during the evening and night to a minimum of -1.0C at 07.15 on Friday morning, however, the temperature did not fall sufficiently to produce an air frost (-0.1C) until 05.00 with a ground frost setting earlier.

Friday arrived with variable high cloud and sunshine. The barometric pressure has been rising for the past three days with a reading at 08.00 of 1027.3mb, the highest pressure since 13th October, thus the dry days with variable sunshine.

The north-northwest breeze picked up on Wednesday, gusting to 15mph, and from that cooler direction meant that the thermometer did not get above 9.2C being 0.9C below average. It was another dry day.

The breeze overnight and cloud cover meant no repeat of a frost, air or ground, as the thermometer did not sink below 3.4C, reached at 05.50 on Thursday. This minimum was 0.4C below average.

Thursday saw a little brightness first thing as the cloud was variable. The cool northerly breeze meant that wind chill occurred with the thermometer reading 4.3C at 08.00 that felt more like 3C.