Author: Eric Gilbert

Tuesday brought us another welcome 5 hours of sunshine and a dry day. The thermometer edged a little higher than on Monday with a maximum of 9.1C, being 1.3C above average.

It was a dry day with very little wind, a peak gust of just 12 mph was the strongest breeze.

The overnight minimum was 3.5C at dawn, also above average (+1.6C).

Wednesday has arrived with broken cloud and the possibility of limited sunshine for the first part of the morning.

Update on Wednesday at 16.40: south easterly breeze pegs back the temperature to a maximum of 7.2C, which was only the second below average (-0.6C) day this month. Stronger wind meant wind chill a factor making it feel a degree or so below that indicated on the thermometer.

Monday was memorable in that it was the first dry day since 26th November and the sunniest day since 18th November with 5.3 hours.

However, the light westerly air flow produced a lower maximum than of recent days of 8.4C but still 0.6C above average.

Overnight the clearer skies and still wind conditions meant that the thermometer steadily fell to a minimum of 1.4C at 04.08 before lifting a degree to 2.2C at 08.00 as thin cloud from the next approaching weather front drifted in from the west. The low temperature initially gave a slight ground frost.

Tuesday arrived with a predominantly cloudy sky, thickening as the next weather front arrives from the Atlantic.

Update on Tuesday at 17.40: another 5 hours of sunshine on Tuesday that again lifted temperature above average (+1.3C) with a peak of 9.1C. Very little wind, peak of just 11 mph, with another dry day.

On Sunday we enjoyed 3 hours of sunshine and a dry day with the exception of a brief shower just before noon, amounting to 0.3mm.

Temperatures by day and night were again above average with a maximum of 10.3C (+2.5C) and a minimum of 4.9C (+3C).

Monday arrived with the cloud bank easing away to the east and a predominantly clear sky with the promise of sunshine when it rises above the horizon.

The barometric pressure at 8.00 was 1026.9mb giving a temporary ridge of high pressure thus a drier and brighter day.

Incidentally, on this day last year we had snow and ice!

Update on Monday at 15.15: westerly breeze limits warmth to a maximum of 8.4C, (0.6C above average) at 14.29 despite 5 hours of welcome sunshine.

The sunshine and showers regime continued with another 4.3mm of rainfall but less sunshine than on Friday with 1.23 hours.

The temperatures by day and night were again above average with a maximum of 10.7C (+2.9C) and a minimum of 7.8C (+5.9C).

The breezy conditions continued throughout the past twenty-four hors with a maximum gust of 36 mph at 04.27 the morning.

Sunday arrived with a mainly cloudy sky and light drizzle in the air and the thermometer having eased up a little to 8.8C.

Friday saw rain at 08.20 falling at the rate of 22mm/hour. With brief showers early Saturday morning the rainfall for the past twenty-four hours was 6.0mm, bringing the total for December to 45.5mm when the average is 90.0mm.

The increased sunshine over previous days was welcome with 3.35 hours. However, the temperature began to steadily fall away after 08.30 on Friday with a minimum of 5.6C later that day at 18.28 before rising a little overnight.

Early this morning the wind began to rise again with a peak gust of 31mph at 03.36.

At dawn there was broken cloud with the possibility of limited sunshine before the shower clouds develop again.