Author: Eric Gilbert

Although we had less sunshine on Tuesday than of late, mainly during the late afternoon amounting to 3.6 hours, the thermometer reached a maximum 16.2C. This peak was 5.7C above the 37-year average and the warmest day since 20th October. In the strong sunshine the UV level rose to 3.2, which is the first time it has risen to the ‘Moderate’ level since 8th October. The wind was brisk with a peak gust of 26mph and varied between north-northwest and north-northeast.

The thermometer dropped away markedly overnight with the minimum of 2.0C at 06.49 on Wednesday. There was brief, weak sunshine for a short while after dawn on Wednesday that lifted the temperature to 4.3C at 08.00. Subsequently the cloud thickened and obscured the sun. The high pressure is centred just to the west of Ireland and continues to feed air from a northerly direction, if slightly variable in direction.

The breeze on Monday, which was much lighter than of late with a peak gust if 21mph early in the day, and 6 hours of sunshine meant the maximum of 13.1C was 2.6C above he 37-year average and the warmest day since 24th February. The UV level at its peak reached a reading of 2.6 being at the top end of “low” but the highest strength since 28th September. It has also been a dry twenty-four hours.

A mild night followed with cloud cover limiting warmth escaping into the atmosphere with a minimum of 4.4C at 01.17 on Tuesday morning. This low was 2C above the one-term average.

Tuesday at dawn was gloomy with misty conditions. However, shortly after 08.00 some brightness was observed and the thermometer had recovered to 8.6C, the second warmest start to a day this month.

Although there was reduced sunshine on Sunday, just 3 hours, the thermometer rose to 9.9C, which was fractionally up on past days, but still 0.6C below the 37-year average.

Overnight was mild with a minimum of 5.8C being 3.4C above the average rising to 7.7C at 08.00 on Monday.

As mentioned yesterday the barometric pressure has been rising so damping out showers, just 0.8mm in the past twenty-four hours. The wind direction on Sunday was from the west. However, with the anticyclone now centred to the west of the Bay of Biscay, circulating clockwise as they do, and a depression over southern Scandinavia circulating anticlockwise, the wind direction has veered into the north west on Monday between the two systems. The pressure at 08.00 was 1020.8mb, the highest for a week.

Monday arrived with glimpses of sunshine, hazy at times, through variable cloud.

Saturday produced almost five hours of sunshine and a very similar temperature to the two previous days with a maximum of 9.6C at 14.30 being 0.9C below average. Interestingly the maxima for the past three days was 9.8C, 9.7C and 9.6C respectively. This depressed temperature was due to a very brisk westerly wind that gusted to a peak of 31mph. During the late afternoon the thermometer dropped away with a reading of 4C at 16.00 but the wind chill that had been in effect all day meant it felt more like 2.1C outside.

Overnight a minimum of 3.3C was 0.9C above the average.

Sunday saw a little brightness after sunrise, through broken cloud, but minimal. The temperature at 08.00 had risen to 5.8C.

An anticyclone has been developing in the Atlantic just west of Portugal that is feeding the westerly wind across the country. As the pressure increases, a significant 21mb was added in the last twenty-four hours, the weather is likely to be more settled. The current reading at 08.00 was 1014.8mb.

The wind on Friday was just a little less boisterous than on Thursday but still peaked at 33mph in the morning but dropped away late afternoon. The thermometer, thanks to 4 house of sunshine, rose to a peak of 9.7C, when was 0.8C below the 37-year average and almost identical to the Thursday maximum.

Frequent showers were the order of the day that with several hours of intermittent overnight rain meant a daily total of 8.5mm, the wettest day since 14th February. This brought the monthly total to 23.8mm, which is 40% of the 37-year March average.

The cloud cover meant a frost free night with the thermometer not sinking below 4.0C being 1.5C above the average.

Broken cloud and short bursts of strong sunshine greeted us on Saturday morning. The centre of the depression has relocated to the North Sea and caused the wind to veer into the west and continue to be gusting well over 20mph.