Author: Eric Gilbert

Under the influence of a ridge of high beginning to develop Saturday was a very calm day with little or at times no wind. The strongest gust was just 9mph. The increasing barometric pressure meant a dry day but the air mass, coming from the north east, was cool limiting the maximum temperature to 7.1C, being 3C below average and the eleventh consecutive below average daytime peak.

It was another day without sunshine, the fifth this month, although the UV just registered.

Overnight the thermometer fell away to a minimum of 0.1C at 04.34 Sunday morning that by 08.00 had lifted slightly to 1.3C.

Sunday saw a little brightness after dawn, but no sunshine, under a mainly cloudy sky. The ridge of high pressure has been building for over twenty-four hours so another dry day is likely.

With a brisk wind from the Northeast for much of Thursday it was not surpassing that the daytime temperature was depressed giving a maximum just 5.2C, a significant 5C below the 35-year average. This made it the coldest day since 2nd February when a high of 2.9C was recorded.

The thick cloud cover meant very little variation in the temperature by day and night, a difference of just 1.4C, with a minimum of 3.8C, which was exactly average.

Friday dawned with thick cloud as the wind, having backed into the north and gained strength in the early morning, produced a wind chill so that the temperature felt more line 1.6C than 4.4C at 08.00.

Although Wednesday started dry and sunny with 3.9 hours the next depression arriving from the Atlantic made itself felt as the sky began clouding over by noon with rain commencing just before 18.00.

The past twenty-four hours produced another 10.2mm of rainfall bringing the monthly total to 69.2mm when the average is 91.9mm

Although the wind in the morning was from the south west, as the depression approached it veered into the south east by early evening and by Thursday morning was coming from the north.

Yet another below average day and night with a maximum of 8.3c (-1.8C) and a minimum that occurred at 07.38 Thursday morning of 1.1C (2.7C).

The Meteorological Office are warning that sleet or snow could fall Thursday morning at land 100m above sea level in this area, so there is a possibility that Marlborough could see some ‘white stuff’.

Tuesday produced a little sunshine, just 2.8 hours but again the strong westerly wind, gusting to 26mph, pegged back the temperature to a peak of 7.8C, being 2.3C below average.

A brief shower during the morning produced 0.3mm of precipitation.

With the air temperature dropping away to 2.5C early Wednesday a ground frost occurred, briefly.

The barometric pressure continues to yo-yo as depressions cross the country followed by very brief ridges of higher pressure.