Author: Eric Gilbert

Although there was plenty of sunshine on Sunday the thermometer resolutely refused to rise above the average with a maximum of 9.3C being 1C below average. There was a light shower that produced just 0.3mm making this the eighteenth consecutive wet day.

Sunday night into Monday gave us another chilly night with the thermometer falling away to a minimum of 2.4C at 03.11, which was 0.3C above average.

Monday morning saw broken cloud with glimpses of hazy sunshine and the temperature at 08.00 was exactly the same as on Sunday with a reading of 4.3C

The barometric pressure has been rising for the past thirty-six hours, which gave us the quieter day yesterday and a drier, less windy day today.

Saturday saw the wind strength increase again with a peak gust of 47mph. The day was dry but rain started at 18.10 with an intense short burst at 19.34 producing a daily total of 4.6mm. We have yet to have a totally dry day in March with the monthly total now 69.4mm.

The thermometer eased above average again (+1C) with a maximum of 11.3C but the wind strength produced a wind chill so that it felt more like 8C at the warmest part of the day.

Overnight the temperature tumbled producing a minimum of 2.3C at 06.31 Sunday morning. This began to rise as strong sunshine greeted the new morning lifting the temperature to 4.3C at 08.00.

Update on Sunday at 15.35: maximum temperature depressed with peak of 9.3C, which was 1C below average in brisk westerly wind gusting to 21mph

Thursday and Friday saw the thermometer rise above average with maxima of 13.6C (+3.3C) and 11.9C (+1.6C) respectively with maximum gusts of 40mph and 38mph.

The rainfall for the two days was minimal with 1.8mm ad 1.2mm respectively, which brought the March total to 64.8mm being 5.3mm above the 35-year average.

Update on Saturday at 15.15: peak gust of wind measuring 47mph at 15.00. Maximum temperature of 11.3C (+1.0C) at 12.49 before cloud thickened.

Winds were not quite as strong on Wednesday as Tuesday but still strong with a peak gust of 37mph.

The thermometer rose to a maximum of 9.7C at 13.16, still below average (-0.6C).

Rainfall in the past twenty-four hours amounted to 2.1mm bringing the monthly total to 61.8mm, which is 1.7mm above average.

The temperature, having initially fallen away in the late evening, began to pick up just after midnight to give a reading of 9.4C at 08.00 Thursday morning.

Storm Gareth on Tuesday gave us a stormy day with wind frequently in excess of 30 mph and the strongest gust of 46mph at 09.34. As the wind temporarily veered from the southwest into the northwest the temperature dropped from 9.3C at 11.00 to 3.2C at 13.30, then recovering a degree or so.

The drizzle in the morning turned to intense rain, briefly, at 11.00 followed by several hours of continuous, steady rain. The rainfall for the past twenty-four hours amounted to 11.7mm, which brought the monthly total to 59.7mm. That means after just 12 days in march the rainfall this month just exceeds the 35-year average rainfall for March. In fact we have yet to have a dry day during March.

A milder night followed so that Wednesday arrived with broken cloud and brief periods of sunshine with a temperature of 7.2C at 08.00