Author: Eric Gilbert

Monday can best be described as a turbulent day with very strong winds and frequent heavy showers of rain and hail, all day. The total precipitation that included rain and small hail on two occasions, which is described as less that 5mm in diameter, amounted to 13.2mm, which took the monthly total to 110.5mm being 123% of the 40 year average and made it so far, the wettest January since 2016. There were two occasions, when at its peak, the rain was falling at a rate of 26mm/hour. The wettest January since this station was set up in 1984 was in 2016 when 219.1mm was logged, so almost twice this month’s total.

During the frequent strong squalls in the morning the thermometer dropped almost 3C to a low of 3.2C at 11.15. Thunder was heard on several occasions including at 07.42, 08.10 and an enormous clap and immediate lighting overhead a little later at 10.58. The southerly breeze, gusting to 37mph on one occasion, was from a warmer direction and allowed the thermometer, in the brief sunny interval after 13.30, to reach a maximum of 7.8C at 14.20, which was 0.7C above the long-term average.

Tuesday revealed a mainly cloudy start to the day with more rain showers falling with the thermometer reading 8.0C at 08.00. The wind has been slowly abating since the peak mid-afternoon on Monday. The rain radar shows a multitude of showers and thick, low cloud circulating around the centre of Storm Herminia, which is currently over the Midlands, as it slowly tracks eastwards, as it does so the wind will veer from southwest to west and then west-northwest.

The projection for Wednesday is for another storm to arrive but at the moment the forecast indicates we will be on the northern fringe of the heavy rain and wind, but time will tell.

With torrential rain totalling 26.8mm and wind gusts to 38mph the last twenty-four hours have been stormy. The thermometer eventually reached a maximum of 8.5C in the early evening at 21.21, which was due to the heavy and persistent rain that began at 10.15 and persisted for much of the daylight hours, easing off at 15.55, with further bursts either side of midnight and another at 08.45 early Monday. The additional daily precipitation of 26.8mm, including hail on Monday morning, took the monthly total to 97.3mm being 109% of my 40-year average or + 7.7mm. The barometric pressure fell to its lowest at 00.10 early Monday with a reading of 975.6mb.

Storm Herminia produced strong squally winds with a maximum gist of 38mph at 12.15 that died down as the afternoon progressed but picked up again during the early hours of Monday, up to 30mph. It was the lowest Sara anergy since the 1st January.

Monday morning early brought two more squalls of wind, rain and hail, in narrow bands, that included thunder at 07.42, just five miles southeast of Marlborough and at 08.10 five miles south of Hungerford. Within minutes the temperature dropped 2C. Clearer skies followed but the rain radar shows a multitude of shower activity massing to the west and heading our way as the day progresses.

Fact: 26.8mm of precipitation equates to 268,000 litres per hectare or every square metre received 26.8 litres of rain water during the past twenty-four hours. No wonder the river is running high.

The centre of Storm Herminia is currently off the southwest tip-off Ireland that has caused the wind direction to change from south east on Sunday to southwest for much of Monday. Its track will take it slowly across Ireland and middle England that by midday on Tuesday is forecast to exit over the east coast of the UK, which will mean its disturbed conditions will dominate our weather for today and into the evening.

Saturday was a very pleasant, dry day after the passage of Storm Eowyn with light winds but only average temperatures by day. Just before midday thin cloud was observed drifting cross the sky and thickening before 13.00 reducing the strength of the sun, turning it weaker and hazy after strong sunshine all morning. Thus the day maximum of 7.8C occurred at 12.48 before the thicker cloud arrived being 0.6C above my 4-year average. The UV level rose at its peak to 0.8, still in the low category, but it is still January although it was equal highest this month with that logged on the 16th.

During the early evening the thermometer steadily fell away to reach a low of 1.1C at 21.08. After that time more thicker cloud arrived ahead of the next storm that saw the thermometer slowly recover to reach 5.0C at 08.00 on Sunday. There were a couple of light showers between 02.30 and 03.45 amounting to 1.0mm that took the monthly total to 70.5mm when the long-term average for January is 89.6mm.

As the depression approaches the wind will swing from predominantly southwest yesterday to mostly southeast today. The rain radar at 08.00 showed a very wide rain band with heavy rain currently moving across the west country and forecast to arrive here between 10.00 ad 11.00.

The radar shows another depression has developed in the eastern Atlantic that the Spanish Met Office have named Storm Herminia. This is currently heading for Ireland later today and then moving across to middle England. The wind has been slowly rising since 06.45 and will get very strong as the morning progresses. The barometric pressure has dropped again ahead of the storm with a reading of 998.7mb at 08.00, down a modest 6 mb since yesterday, but is currently falling rapidly, as the depression closes in, that had a centre pressure of 957mb at midnight but forecast to deepen further to 952mb by midday.

The worst of the weather on Friday was during the early hours with the strong winds gusting to 33mph and heavy rain. By mid-morning it had brightened up that allowed the thermometer to rise to a maximum of 10.0C at 13.59 being 2.9C above my long-term average. In fact the thermometer was up and down over the past twenty-four hours. At 21.30 the air temperature was 5.5C following that the temperature began to rise slowly reaching 7.5C at 01.30 early Saturday. This was obviously due to cloud cover arriving and backed up with the evidence of rainfall falling in that period, from 00.30 to 01.30, amounting to 1.3mm. From that time cloud obviously began to clear as the temperature began to fall away reaching a low of -0.1C at 08.00 under clear blue skies.

Saturday after dawn revealed clear skies and the evidence of a dry and sunny day as the barometric pressure has been rising due to Storm Éowyn easing away over Scandinavia. The barometric pressure has risen to 1004.5mb at 08.00 after the low of 988.2mb early Friday, a significant rise of 16mb.

The synoptic charts show another depression in mid-Atlantic heading our way with a track that will take it further south, the time over middle England. This depression, like Storm Eowyn, is forecast to deepen rapidly and bring strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday.

The temperature hovered around 4C for many of the daylight hours with a minimum of 4.2C at 19.05. However, with Storm Éowyn approaching the temperature began to slowly rise reaching a maximum 10.6C at 06.49 early Friday. Usually the maximum is during the day and not overnight. This temporary warmer air made it the second warmest twenty-four hour period this month after 12.4C was logged on the 5th. The several hours of rain during the day stopped just after 13.00 with occasional, sharp showers midafternoon. A weather front crossed our area during the night that produced more rain from 01.10 to just before 07.00 early Friday totalling 17.7mm that took the monthly total to 68.2mm when the long-term average is 89.6mm.

Friday after first light revealed the back edge of the weather front easing away eastwards with the sky beginning to clear with the prospect of modest sunshine during Friday. The rain has stopped and the wind abated. The barometric pressure is beginning to rise rapidly as the centre of Storm Éowyn heads towards Scandinavia. By 09.00, under clearing skies, the temperature had dropped over 2C to reach 8.1C with a little wind chill making it feel like 7.8C outside.

Being some fifty miles inland, the strength of the wind is considerably diminished from that logged at the coast, due to it passing over the ground, trees and buildings that produce considerable friction.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm read 7.2C at 08.00 due to the warmer air late yesterday and overnight, which was the highest since the 1st (9.4C).

The track of Storm Éowyn was correctly predicted with the centre over Northern Ireland and Scotland. The pressure at 08.00 here was 988.2mb whereas in the north the pressure at the centre of the storm dropped to an exceptional 944mb. This explains why we only had a modest maximum gust of wind of 33mph at 02.27 early Friday.

I apologise that unbeknown to me the 2025 Daily Stats sheet could only be accessed by using the 2024 sheet first. This glitch has now been rectified by my webmaster. I’m old and just fill in the spaces!