Author: Eric Gilbert

Monday was a day best forgotten as regards the weather as it was dull, gloomy and cold all day. Under the persistent easterly wind, gusting to 20mph at its peak and with no sunshine the thermometer struggled to reach 6.6C at 15.26, which was a significant 4.1C below my long-term average and made it the coldest day this month. The brisk wind from the east meant wind chill was again in evidence that meant outside it felt almost 2C cooler than that indicated on a shielded thermometer.

Monday, under the gloomy, thick cloud produced a maximum solar radiation of just 251W/m2, being the lowest all month and the UV light, not surprisingly, was back into the ‘Low’ category at 1.7, the second lowest all month, the 10th logged peak UV at 1.6.

As expected under a clearing sky overnight, as the residual cloud from the two weather fronts eased southwards, the temperature dropped away reaching a minimum of 0.3C at 06.19 on Tuesday before the rising sun got to work. This low was 2.3C below average and although it produced a ground frost, as the thermometer did not drop below zero, there was technically no air frost.

Tuesday brought a glorious start to the new day with the red sun at sunrise beginning to shine strongly as it eased above the horizon, this lifted the thermometer to 3.2C by 08.00. As the anticyclone repositions over Germany the wind will veer a few more degrees from east to eastsoutheast as the day progresses, indicating that a change is getting closer, a much less cold direction.

It has been a very dry month with no rain expected until possibly the weekend as only 1.5mm of precipitation has been recorded. By contrast, the equivalent loss of rainfall through evaporation from ground sources and plant life now totals 24mm.

The cold air trapped under the high pressure gave us another cold day on Sunday. The thermometer rose to a peak of 7.9C at 13.28, following a cold night, before more cloud arrived drifting down on two weather fronts, the low was 2.8C below my long-term average. The UV light peak was 3.1, just into the ‘Moderate’ category again.

The past night was much less cold thanks to the cloud brought on the two weather fronts so a minimum of 4.0C at 06.50 early Monday was in fact the first night with an above average minimum, with no frost, air or ground, being 1.C above my long-term average.

Monday dawned dull with total cloud cover from the residual cloud thanks to the two weather fronts that arrived on Sunday. The cloud should slowly ease later in the afternoon with some possible brightness. The wind was coming from the northeast to start the day but is forecast to veer a few degrees later today and then come from the east.

The humidity at 08.00 on Monday was 83.1% thanks to the air steam having travelled over the cold North Sea picking up moisture on the way. When the air stream veers into the east and then southeast on Tuesday it will be travelling over the Continent that is much drier, therefore the humidity will drop tomorrow with consequently much less cloud and the likelihood of sunshine with hopefully, a slight rise in temperature.

Although the peak temperature on Saturday was the highest for five days, under the modest sunshine, the maximum of 8.6C, logged 14.59, was still well below average at -2.1C. Under clear skies, with no cloud to act as a duvet to minimise the warmth into the atmosphere, the thermometer fell steadily downwards to reach a minimum of -3.1C at 05.48 early Sunday, which was a significant 5.8C below my long-term average.

There was a significant feature on both Friday and Saturday when the UV value rose at its peak into the ‘Moderate’ level for the first time since the 5th October, evidence that the sun is gaining in strength, although by day and night at the moment it doesn’t feel like it!

Sunday brought us welcome sunshine in the early morning that had lifted the temperature to 1.8C by 08.00. However, under the cool days and cold nights, the cold has continued to seeping the ground with a temperature of 0.7C at a depth of 5cm, the coldest since the 5th.

The anticyclone has intensified again and continuing to dominate our weather, up another 3mb since Saturday, with a reading of 1015.3mb at 08.00. As it changed position slightly on Saturday this resulted in the wind direction backing into the north, with the air again streaming down from near the Arctic again, hence the cold night under clear skies. A slight variation will see the air stream veer back into the northeast on Sunday so although the maximum today will be similar to Saturday it shouldn’t be nearly as cold overnight especially as two weather fronts are forecast to drift down from the north later today and overnight into Monday bringing much more cloud.

A warmer night tonight will mean that most of my daffodils will be vertical on Monday morning and not collapsed onto the ground, as on Sunday morning, after the hard frost!

Friday was the sixth successive day that the maximum was below average. The peak of 7.7C, logged at 12.04, was a degree higher than on Friday but still 3.0C below my long-term average. Cloud thickened in the afternoon but although there were a few spots of rain observed around 15.00 it was not sufficient to be measurable. The cloud overnight meant no air frost, for the first time in four days, as the thermometer did not sink below 1.1C, logged at 06.15 early Saturday, also below average at -1.6C.

Saturday dawned with a mostly cloudy sky although there were brief glimpses of the sun just after 08.00 by which time the thermometer had eased upwards to register 2.3C. However, the brisk northeasterly breeze produced a wind chill again so outside at 0800 it felt more like 0.8C.

At the middle point of March the total rainfall is just 1.5mm set against the equivalent loss of rainfall through evaporation, from ground sources and plant life, now totalling 19.8mm.

The anticyclone has strengthened with the pressure having risen to 1022.2mb at 08.00, up 13mb since yesterday at that time, which is beginning to cut off the Arctic northerly air although the air stream from the northeast is from a cold Continent and from as far east as Russia, which is still very cold. Unfortunately, I think it will not be until Tuesday, from the forecast synoptic charts, that there will be any significant warmer weather, and then only modest until later in the week.

The peak of 6.9C on Thursday made it the coldest day this month, also since 18th February (6.7C), being exactly 4C below my long-term average. This maximum was logged at 15.16 between the cloud activity that built up after 11.00 to the north of our area, and slowly tracked southwards. Under broken cloud in the evening the temperature eased downwards dropping to -0.1C at 21.58 and falling to a minimum of -3.2C at 04.35 early Friday, which was a significant 5.9C below my long-term average.

The weather station sends a pulse to the ‘cloud’ very 5 seconds and makes a recording every minute, which showed the thermometer beginning to rise significantly around 05.30, also tracking back in the cloud radar it is at that time when cloud and the fog began to drift southwards across our area, also confined by the humidity also rising at that time.

Friday morning revealed foggy conditions that limited visibility initially to 200m but began to thin after 07.30 with the thermometer having risen to -0.8C by 08.00.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac began publishing full moon names in the 1930s. I discovered that Native Americans called this last full moon of the winter the worm moon after the worm trails that would appear in the newly thawed ground. Other names include chaste moon, death moon and sap moon, after the tapping of the maple trees.

We have a couple more days of this cold weather but by Monday we are likely to see the temperature begin to recover to around the above normal for mid-March and later, hopefully above.