Author: Eric Gilbert

There were 7.9 hours of welcome sunshine on sunday that saw the thermometer rise to 22.9C, which was 1.8C above average and the warmest day since the 14th. It was a dry day with the UV level reaching into the High category.

The barometric pressure has been building for the past twenty-six hours and at 0800 on Monday read 1028.2mb, the highest pressure since 17th July. Usually high pressure means dry, fine weather. The centre of the anticyclone is just off the coast of Aberdeen so the wind will move in a clockwise direction around the anticyclone and come from a northeasterly direction picking up moisture from the North Sea, thus cloud drifting in on the breeze overnight.

The start of Monday saw total cloud cover brought in from the North Sea on a north-northeasterly fresh breeze. This is currently covering southern England but there is hope that this will burn away and bring more sunshine as the day progresses.

The rain kept falling on Saturday that eventually produced 17.7mm of rainfall. This was the wettest day since 27th January (18.7mm) and brought the August total to 64.2mm, which is 5.7mm below the 37-year average.

The thick cloud and rain meant a cool day with the thermometer not rising above 19.9C, which occurred late in the afternoon during brief glimpses of sunshine and 1.2C below average. For most of the daytime the thermometer hovered around 16.5C.

The slack pressure gradient meant that it was another day with very little breeze, a peak gust of 9mph but for long periods the high and low anemometers were stationary.

The overnight low was 13.8C, once again above average (+2.1C) due to the thick cloud acting as a blanket for any warmth being lost to the atmosphere.

Sunday saw another cloudy start to a day, although after dawn there were brief glimpses of brightness.

The barometric pressure is begging to rose as a high pressure system is forecast to develop over the UK so hopefully there will be less rain and more sunshine in the coming week.

Sunshine on Friday was minimal, just 2.5 hours, and meant a cooler day with the peak of 20.9C being 0.2C below average. However, it was a dry day with very little wind. For long periods the anemometers, both high and low, were stationary with the strongest movement of air, couldn’t be called a gust, was 9mph at head height.

The approaching weather fronts overnight meant cloud cover thickened giving us the warmest night since 21st August 2020 (15.9C) with a minimum of 15.4C being 3.5C above the 37-year average.

With two weather fronts approaching on Saturday, first a cold front followed by a warm front, rain was not far away at 0800. In fact at 0825 the frost rain drops were observed. There is a gentle movement of air, not even a breeze, but it is now coming from the southeast, a direction not seen since 2nd August.

Thursday bright another mainly cloudy day with intervals of sunshine in the afternoon but just 5.4 hours in total. However, the wind having backed into the southwest, a warmer direction and minimal wind, just 8mph maximum gust, saw the thermometer reach just above average (+0.2C) with a peak of 21.3C.

There were spits and spots of rain mid-morning but real rain arrived just after 1600, a brief light shower, with more continuous rain after 1700, which, in total was 2.3mm. The rainfall for July now stands at 46.5mm when the average is 66.9mm.

Overnight was again mild with a low of 13.5C (+1.8C).

Friday initially saw brief glimpses of brightness but by 0800 had completely disappeared with total cloud cover again. The wind continues from the southwest and very light.

Although Wednesday morning was overcast and dull, the sun came out just after 1400 and logged 7 hours in total. This lifted the temperature in the afternoon to 21.0C, almost average. It was a dry day with the UV level reaching High.

A mild night followed with a low of 12.4C (+0.7C).

Although Thursday arrived with total cloud cover just before 0745 the sun began to break through and shortly afterwards was shining strongly.

With the barometric pressure already falling away and a warm front edging in from the west we must enjoy the sun whilst it makes an appearance before more cloud and possible precipitation arrive later in the morning.