Author: Eric Gilbert

Rain from the second cold front on Thursday morning, that quickly followed the first cold front overnight, arrived just after 08.30 and produced another 6.0mm of rainfall. The total rain from both cold fronts totalled 17.5mm.

By 12.00 the rain had stopped and the cloud started to thin with sun breaking through consistently early afternoon giving us 6.42 hours.

The late sunshine boosted the temperature to 20.3C at 16.31.

A cool night followed with the thermometer falling to 9.9C that produced fog in the River Og valley that had dispersed by 07.00 as the sun got to work raising the temperature to 14.1C at 08.00.

Update at 18.30: another 6 hours of sunshine today brings the total for August to 117 hours, almost the average for the whole of August over the past four years (120 hours). No further rain today.

Wednesday saw little sunshine, just 1.4 hours, with a mostly cloudy day and no rain during daylight hours. As a result the temperature was a little down on the previous two days with a maximum of 22.3C, still 1.6C above average.

A mild night followed with the thermometer slowly falling to a minimum of 15.6C at 08.00 today, being 4.1C above average, due to the thick cloud associated with the low pressure system to the west.

The first of the two cold fronts crossing the area brought the first rain just before 05.00 today producing 11.5mm with a heavy burst at 07.05 that measured a rate of 46mm/hour. There was a slight pause around 08.00 as the second cold front approached with the promise of more heavy rain.

Update at 10.30: rain stopped adding another 6mm (total of 17.5mm since 05.00) as second cold front moves away to the east leaving thick cloud and virtually still conditions.

at 18.00: cloud slowly thinned after midday with sun breaking through early afternoon, that lifted the temperature to 20.3C at 16.31, which was 0.4C below average. No further rainfall after 10.30.

Tuesday brought us 4.8 hours of sunshine and although the wind was from the west, a maximum above average with 23.1C (+2.4C), the warmest day for a week.

Tuesday into Wednesday saw a very mild night with the thermometer not falling below 15.8C (+4.3C).

Wednesday dawned cloudy with, initially, low cloud over the Marlborough Downs giving brief drizzle that was not measurable, recorded as a trace, and no sun by 08.00 when the thermometer risen slightly to 16.7C.

Almost half way through August when the rainfall total is 17.8mm and evaporation stands at 44mm.

Update at 18.00:late afternoon sunshine lifts temperature to a peak of 22.3C at 17.30.

Monday saw the sun return for 2.8 hours that resulted in a warmer day, even though the wind had veered into the west from the south, lifting the temperature to a peak of 22.9C being 2.2C above average.

There was a very brief shower of drizzle that measured just 0.1mm, so not a totally dry day.

A mild night followed with a minimum of 12.2C at 03.04, being almost 2C above average.

Tuesday arrived with thick cloud that began to lift and break an hour or so after dawn that allowed the sun to break through by 08.15.

A diurnal temperature is the variation between daily maxima and minima. It is interesting to analyse the difference for this month so far and I find that on the 5th & 6th there was a variation of 18C and conversely on the 12th a variation of just 5C.

Update at 16.20: temperature eases upwards again with a maximum of 23.1C at 15.07, which was 2.4C above the average.

After so many glorious days Sunday was such a contrast with no sunshine at all. The cloud base was often quite low as frequent showers of drizzle or light rain crossed the area.

It was a cool day with the maximum of 17.1C, 3.6C below average, being the coolest day since 17th June.

The rainfall total was very modest, just 2.1mm, bringing the total for August to date to 17.7mm when the 34-year average is 66.4mm.

Due to the thick cloud overnight it was another mild night with the thermometer not falling below 14.7C being 3.2C above average.

As humans we have to quickly adapt to our changing weather conditions such as:

Sunday saw just a 2C variation between day and night time. However ……..

Contrast: in August daytime maxima – 29.3C (5th) and 17.1C (12th)
in August nighttime minima – 16.0C (4th) and 4.7C (11th)

Update at 16.10: bursts of strong sunshine during the afternoon lift the temperature to a peak of 22.9C at 14.32 being 2.2C above average.