Author: Eric Gilbert

With 3.6 hours of strong sunshine yesterday and no rain, it was a much improved day over previous ones. The wind veered from the south into the west during the afternoon, which began to temper the temperature that peaked with a maximum of 18.9C (1C below average) at 14.31.

We are near mid-summer so with strong sunshine yesterday it was not surprising that the UV level rose into the ‘Very High’ level.

No rain has fallen in the past twenty-hours so the total of 29.2mm remains the same.

Overnight the thermometer indicated a slow fall in temperature to 12.5C recorded at 03.10, since which time it has risen to 16.3C at 08.00, making it the warmest night this month.

Since dawn we have had intermittent strong sunshin with the wind increasing in strength gusting to 23mph.

Thursday started well with a little sunshine, in fact only 2 minutes of strong sunshine, but by 11.00 drizzle started to fall and a little later became heavier although only amounting to 1.0mm. The afternoon was cloudy with a maximum 3C below average reading 16.5C at 15.33, mainly due to the southerly air flow rather than sunshine. Not surprisingly the UV level only peaked at ‘Medium’ strength.

The thermometer slowly fell away during the night to a low of 10.3C, just above the average for June.

This morning is predominantly cloudy with the odd brief appearance of the sun, which had boosted the thermometer to 13.2C at 08.00.

The first week of June has been dominated by strong winds, below average temperatures and rain six days out of eight. Definitely not summer weather!

The sun returned yesterday producing 5.87 hours of strong sunshine and the UV level rising into the ‘Very High’ level again.

The wind having eased down, a maximum gust of 24mph, and much more sunshine, boosted the temperature to a maximum of 18.4C, which was just above the June average.

Just after 4.45pm yesterday afternoon, the wind abruptly backed into the south from a westerly direction all day. This meant a very mild night due to the change in wind direction with the thermometer only dropping to 12.0C, which is 2C above the June average.

There were a couple of very light showers overnight that amounted to just 0.9mm.

This morning has dawned grey with heavy cloud, occasional light drizzle around 08.00 and light winds from the south.

Although the maximum (14.9C) and the minimum (9.4C) in the past twenty-four hours were almost identical to the previous day the weather was very different. The night time minimum was average but the daytime peak was still 5C below the June average.

The occasional light shower registered 1.2mm, bringing the total for June to 27.3mm, which is 50% of the 33-year average, that has fallen in the first five days with more forecast.

The strength of the wind was also similar to that recorded on Monday gusting over 30 mph on many occasions with a peak gust of 32mph from a cool westerly direction.

One consolation yesterday was the reappearance of the sun with 1.56 hours of strong sunshine.

The wind eased overnight but since 6am it has started to rise again. However, the sun got to work after dawn and by 08.00 had raised the temperature to 12.7C.

The past twenty-four hours have been more like autumn as an intense low-pressure system swung in from the Atlantic bringing strong winds and continuous heavy rainfall.

The twenty two hours of, at times very heavy rainfall, amounted to 23.6mm, the fourth wettest June day since records began here in 1984. The disturbed weather was due to a couple cold fronts that contained a very wide band of rain, which within it had intense downpours.

The record for the wettest June day was set on 3rd June in 2008 with 33.9mm.

The winds often exceed 30mph with peak gusts of 36mph on two occasions.

Not surprisingly the daytime temperatures were depressed with a maximum of only 14.8C at 14.37, which is 5C below the June average. However, the thick cloud meant an average night as the temperature dipped to a minimum of 9.4C just after 6am.

If your wall barometer has fallen anticlockwise far to the left it is working correctly as the barometric pressure dropped to its lowest in three months wth a minimum reading of 986.6mb at 03.35.

At this time the pressure started to recover with the wind abruptly veering from the south into the west.

This morning, the rain reduced in intensity just after 7am and was minimal after 8am.