Author: Eric Gilbert

There was no sun on Wednesday nor any measurable UV due to the persistent low, thick cloud. Occasional flakes of snow were seen in the morning also drizzle but not measurable. The thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of 3.4C being 3.7C below the 36-year average.

Late afternoon and into the evening the thermometer slowly fell away, with a slight rise in the early hours, before falling back to read -1.5C at 08.00 on Thursday with thick fog having formed that limited visibility to 200m.

The thermometer continued to fall after 08.00 with a reading of -1.7 at 08.35.

Update at 10.45: thermometer dropped further to -2.1C

Update at 18.35: the thermometer never rose above freezing during daylight hours during Thursday with a maximum of only -1.2C at 15.20 before falling again to read -2.9C at 18.30.

The brisk north-northeasterly breeze gusting briskly to 27mph, meant a cool day on Monday. The thermometer eventually reached 4.2C being 2.9C below average. The strength and direction of the wind meant a wind chill was prevalent all day and night that meant often it felt up to 2C cooler than registered on the thermometer.

The coolest part of the past night occurred just after dawn at 08.16 when the thermometer registered briefly -0.2C being 1.6C below the 36-year average.

Tuesday arrived with a brighter sky than on Monday, the cloud being much higher and thinner.

Sunday was a little warmer than on Saturday, just 1C, but still below average (-2.8C). As the wind strengthened, windchill became a factor in the open air so that it felt up to 2C colder. The wind was mostly from the north-northeast but later the northeast gusting to 22mph. It was a dry and sunless day.

The past night was cold dropping to 0.7C with a slight recovery at 08.00 on Monday to 1.1C which felt more like -2C in the strong, gusty wind.

Although there was little brightness at dawn cloud soon drifted in on the brisk north-northeast wind gusting to 20mph again.

There was welcome sunshine on Saturday amounting to 2.7 hours that allowed the thermometer to rise a degree above the Friday maximum with a peak of 3.3C but this was still 3.8C below average. A couple of light snow showers were observed at 1545 and 1630 however it melted away shortly afterwards as the thermometer indicated that the air temperature was just above freezing at that time but dropped to 1.1C a little later. The minimum of -0.1C was logged briefly around 2130.

Cloud cover overnight meant the temperature recovered a little to register 1.7C at 08.00 on Sunday under low, thick cloud giving misty conditions. As the high pressure relocated to the east the wind veered into the north-north-east although still light.

After the very cold start to the day on Friday the thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of 2.3C late afternoon and stayed there for most of the evening being 4.8C below average. With clearing skies in the early hours of Saturday the temperature fell to a minimum 0.3C.

The breeze was very light with a peak gust of 11mph from the north-northwest. A very brief shower of light snow fell midmorning but soon melted away as the thermometer kept slowly upwards.

Saturday morning saw minimal cloud on the eastern horizon with much blue sky and the promise of sunshine.

December 2020 Review
Although the month began with high pressure and a dry day with 4.4 hours of sunshine, the following week saw a low-pressure system settle over the country and persist. The slack pressure gradient meant days with light winds, gloomy conditions and little sunshine. The early morning of the 4th brought heavy rain that amounted to 10.0mm. The sixth saw very low cloud that at dawn meant visibility was restricted to 500m but as the morning wore on the fog intensified and visibility dropped to 200m.

Throughout this period temperatures, not surprisingly, were depressed, especially when the wind backed into the northeast and then north. The thermometer only reached 2.1C on the 7th being 6.2C below average and the coldest day since 1st February 2019.

Yet again our weather turned upside down during the middle of the month as an intense and large area of low pressure developed in the North Atlantic that brought warm, moist air on south and southwesterly winds with the thermometer rising to its highest in December with a maximum of 12.9C on the 21st being 4.8C above average.

According to the World Meteorological Organization climate change continued its relentless march in 2020, which is on track to be one of the three warmest years on record. The ten-year period 2011-2020 will be the warmest decade on record, with the warmest six years all being since 2015. The WMO state that “Record warm years have usually coincided with a strong El Niño event, as was the case in 2016. We are now experiencing a La Niña, which has a cooling effect on global temperatures, but has not been sufficient to put a brake on this year’s heat”. The average global temperature in 2020 is set to be about 1.2 °C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) level
Ocean heat is at record levels and more than 80% of the global ocean experienced a marine heatwave at some time in 2020. It has been recently estimated that round 93% of the extra energy accumulating from climate change is stored in the oceans..
The year 2020 has been the warmest year I have recorded since the station began in 1984 with the mean temperature 1.06C above the 36-year average.
Storm Bella was named on the 24th as a deep depression in the North Atlantic that brought wind and rain. The anemometer recorded a gust of 38mph on the 26th, which was the windiest day since 1st November. The depression also brought considerable rainfall with 17.7mm recorded on the 26th being the wettest day since 14th November (26.1mm). As the depression approached the UK winds came from the north, south then west on three successive days.

Up until the last week of December the month had been mild and damp with the mean temperature 1C above the 36-year average. However, on the 28th a cold air mass began to arrive from the north with a maximum of 2.1C and very light, wet snow just before dawn. Another light fall that just about covered the ground fell after dawn on the 29th. The coldest night of the month was logged during the early hours of the 31st when the thermometer dropped to -3.6C being 5.9C below the December average minimum.

The monthly rainfall amounted to 109.1mm being 17.3mm above the 36-year average. There were two particularly wet days on the 13th and 26th with 16.6mm and 17.7mm respectively. Although the mean temperature was well above average for much of the month the very cold spell at the end resulted in a mean temperature 0.09C above average.

There were three days with morning fog and snow was observed on two days, 28th and 29th.