Author: Eric Gilbert

The depression in the English Channel on Friday through rain bands across the area that meant rain from dawn to just before 18.00 that totalled 10.2mm. Fortunately it was steady rain and not the damaging torrential downpours that others areas experienced. Due to the cloud and rain also wind from the north, the temperatures were depressed with a maximum of only 13.2C, which was 7C below average, 9C below the Thursday peak and the coldest day since 21st May.

Conversely, the minimum of 11.1C was 1C above average due to the persistent thick cloud overnight but no further rain fell.

Saturday arrived with the thick cloud still giving total cover with the wind much lighter and moving into the east.

Thursday saw much more cloud, less sunshine (4.9 hours) and light showers as a depression to the east edged closer. The was the being of the breakdown in our weather after the hot, dry spell. The maximum temperature of 22.6C was 4C down on previous days but still over 2C above the 37-year average.

In the early hours of Friday the weather fronts from the associated depression, now over northern France, slowly spread westwards bringing more consistent rain. The rainfall total for the past twenty-four hours was 5.9mm, the wettest day since 23rd June.

Friday dawned grey and cool after the thermometer fell to 11.9C at 05.15 being 1.8C above the average. The thick, low cloud produced continuous rain that fell from the two weather fronts slowly easing westwards. The wind veered a few degrees to come from the north or north-northeast and quite brisk making it feel very cool after the previous hot days.

After another very hot day with the thermometer rising to 26.3C, being 6.1C above average, but cloud built up late afternoon ahead of storms crossing the Channel. Sadly for those of us with gardens the bulk of the heavy rain was to the east of Marlborough, which received just 0.2mm of rainfall just after 03.00 on Thursday that brought the monthly total to 0.09mm when 58mm of equivalent rainfall has been lost through evaporation.

Due to the thick overnight cloud and latent heat in the ground, the past night was very warm with a minimum temperature of 15.8C being 5.7C above the 37-year average.

Thursday arrived with a totally cloudy sky and the light wind having veered into the northwest, a cooler direction.

Tuesday saw the breeze coming from the north east then east. Early afternoon the wind had veered into the south then southwest and briefly northwest before backing into the southwest late evening.

Variable cloud during the 11.52 hours of sunshine and Very High UV meant the maximum temperature of 26.1C was a little lower than on the two previous days but still 5.9C above the 37-year average.

We have now enjoyed nine consecutive days without rainfall that amounts to just 0.7mm this month.

It was a very mild night with the thermometer not sinking below 12.4C being 2.3C above average and the warmest night for almost a week.

Fog was present at dawn on Wednesday that initially limited visibility to 200m but by 06.00 was beginning to ease. Bright intervals were in evidence over the next hour or so as the visibility increased considerably leaving misty contains by 08.00.

The wind on Monday was principally for the northwest, a cool direction that meant the temperatures did not peak as high as on Sunday. Even so the maximum of 26.7C at 14.17, was 6.5C above the average. Cloud began to filter across mid-afternoon that limited any further rise in temperature and in fact dropped a degree or two.The wind in the late evening veered into the north.

It was the coolest night for a week with a minimum of 10.7C, which was almost exactly the average.

Tuesday saw a mainly cloudy start to the day with the wind coming from the east-northeast and feeling very cool for the first couple of hours. The thermometer at 08.00 read 14.9C, the coolest start to a day this month at this time since the 8th.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm this morning had dropped back to 20.5C compared to a peak of 23.7C yesterday.

The wind is forecast to make a 180 degree turn later today as a depression edges closer from the eastern Atlantic