Author: Eric Gilbert

As the anticyclone began to fill and move southwards away from the west of Ireland the wind on Sunday backed a little and came predominantly from the northwest and was much lighter with a maximum gust of 16mph. The day was dry with 3 hours of sunshine. The UV level rose to its highest this year with a peak reading of 3.5, which was in the middle of the “Moderate’ range and not reached since 22nd September. The maximum temperature was a little higher than the two previous days with a maximum of 11.2C, which was 0.7C above the average.

The skies cleared late evening and overnight that meant a cool night with a minimum of 1.1C at 06.29 on Monday. This low was 1.3C below the long-term average.

Monday got off to a good start with hazy sunshine that triggered the sunshine recorder at 07.24. Conditions after dawn were misty that limited visibilty to approximately 1,000m. Cloud began to drift across the sky just before 08.30 totally obliterating the welcome sunshine. The anticyclone continues to lose pressure with a reading of 1027.7mb at 08.00 as it fills with the centre currently having relocated to the English Channel, just off Jersey.

Saturday gave us another gloomy day as thick cloud persisted all day trapped under the high pressure. As a result no sunshine was recorded, the fourth day this month, and the UV level was very low. However, it was a dry day with the thermometer eventually reaching 10.6C, which was exactly average for March.

The overnight minimum of 5.7C was 3.3C above average, once again due to the thick cloud cover.

Sunday arrived with the cloud a little thinner and the cloud base a little higher than on Saturday but still no sunshine to start the day. However, as I write this a very brief bright interval occurred at 08.12 so there is hope for more today!

Now two thirds of the way through March the rainfall total stands at 25.2mm, which is just 42% of the long-term average. This contrasts with the ‘rain bomb’ that has occurred in New South Wales, Australia when 100mm fell in one day.

The thick cloud persisted on Friday morning with bands of light drizzle until about 11.00 amounting to just 0.2mm for the day. There was minimal sunshine, just 1 hour and not surprisingly ‘Low’ UV level.

The maximum temperature of 9.3C was 1.2C below average whereas one again the thick cloud cover overnight meant another mild night with a minimum of 4.4C, surprisingly in the evening and not early morning at 20.36.

Saturday morning was a repeat of previous days with thick cloud cover obscuring any chance of brightness let alone sunshine.

The anticyclone still centred off the west coast of `Ireland is trapping the cloud underneath it, the pressure at 08.00 on Saturday increased to 1033.3mb. The persistent high-pressure does mean that winds have been much lighter in recent days and today started calm.

The wind on Thursday veered a little to come from a north-northeasterly direction but quite brisk. However, the 3 hours of sunshine lifted the thermometer to a peak of 11.4C at 15.10 being 1C above the average. The UV level returned to a ‘Low’ category after rising briefly to ‘Moderate’ on Tuesday.

Overnight the thick cloud rolled in again providing a duvet to keep the warmth from evaporating into the atmosphere giving a mild night with a minimum of 5.3C, which was 3C above the average.

Just before dawn on Friday light drizzle began to fall from the very low cloud amounting to 0.4mm. This gave misty conditions limiting visibility to around 1,200m. Visibility is referred to as fog when it drops below 1,000m. The wind has veered further into the northeast as the high pressure, off the Irish coast, began to topple over towards Scotland.

The mainly northerly breeze on Wednesday, a cool direction, and less sunshine, just 2.2 hours, meant a cool day. The thermometer eventually rose to a maximum of 9.8C at 15.32 being 0.7C below the long-term average.

Overnight cloud rolled back in again but not before clear skies in the evening produced an air frost so that the thermometer dipped to -0.4C at 01.54, which was 2.8C below the average. As a consequence of the past cool nights the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has fallen back again to 3.2C at 08.00 on Thursday, not sufficient warmth to consider early planting in the garden yet.

Thursday brought a little brightness first thing but no substantial sunshine as the cloud cover was almost continuous. The thermometer had recovered to 5.3C at 08.00.