Windrush Weather

Author: Eric Gilbert

  • Night as warm as day – well almost!

    It has been quite an interesting twenty-four hours.

    Yesterday highest wind gust since 21st March with 31 mph at 13.35
    Yesterday lowest evaporation since 29th March of just 1.0mm
    Today warmest morning since 29th September with 15.2C at 08.00
    Five consecutive days with rainfall, not occurred since middle of March
    Only second day this month with no sunshine.

    What is unusual is to find that the thermometer fell just 1.2C from a maximum yesterday of 15.6C to a minimum of 14.4C overnight. The latter held steady for over six hours, most unusual, until it started to rise again just after 2.30am. All this is due to the very warm, moist air brought to us on a breezy southerly wind.

    There was just 1.8mm of rainfall yesterday bringing the total for May to 35.2mm for the month.

  • Drought, what drought?

    After the heavy rainfall during the previous night, yesterday gave us a very sunny morning and early afternoon (5 hours) before heavy showers bubbled up again. The temperature eased up to 17.1C (average is 16.6C) just after 2pm before cloud and showers returned.

    Overnight the thermometer initially fell away to a minimum of 7.8C just before midnight but the next band of rain then started to cross the area from the west that gave a daily total of 3.5mm by 08.00. The rainfall for the month now totals 33.4mm, which is 55% of the 33-year average.

    This morning is dark with heavy low cloud and intermittent rain. The thermometer responded to the cloud cover and continuing southerly breeze to recover to 11.7C at 08.00, the warmest morning since 8th December.

    Last week I was down to my last 100 litres of stored rainwater from my six large water butts for use in the garden. This morning all is restored to the maximum capacity of 1,300 litres for, hopefully, use in another spell of warm, sunny weather!

  • Wettest day for six months

    Yesterday was another dry day during daylight hours but the prolonged dry spell was truly broken in the early hours as a weather front crossed the area from west to east. We enjoyed 3.06 hours of strong sunshine during which the UV level again rose into the ‘High’ category, the highest since 22nd August last year.

    The thermometer edged a little higher yesterday with a maximum of 17.7C just before 3.30pm, which is 1C above the average in the variable winds between southwest and south.

    Overnight the cloud thickened as the weather front brought rain starting just after 01.15 and lasting for three hours. The total rainfall was 16.1mm, making it the wettest day since 21st November 2016. There were peak downpours just after 02.30 and 03.30 with rain falling at a rate equivalent to 14mm/hour. The rainfall total now for May has risen to 29.9mm.

    This morning dawned with the weather front and its associated cloud slowly clearing to the east allowing broken sunshine to break through occasionally. It was a mild night with a minimum of 9.8C, which is 3C above the average of May.

    The result of the warmer days and nights has raised the soil temperature, at a depth of 5cm, to 13.9C, the warmest since 29th September last year.

  • April sunshine and showers in May!!

    With southerly winds yesterday the warm and humid air caused showers to bubble up, but with minimal rainfall of 1.1mm at lunchtime, bringing the total for May to 13.8mm (average is 60.5mm). The maximum of 17.4C was down a shade on thursday’s maximum but just above the average for May. The warm air and thick cloud cover meant that it was the warmest night since 31st March with a minimum of 10.6C, which is almost 4C above the average for May.

    This morning has dawned overcast with thick cloud that has totally blocked out the sun. The wind has veered slightly, now into the southwest, is very light with a lower humidity, 92% at 08.00 compared to 97% yesterday.

  • Dramatic change in weather well under way

    Warmest day yesterday since 8th April with a maximum of 19.5C at 13.23, which is 3C above the average for May. Strong sunshine was only 1.98 hours but UV level again in the ‘High’ category.

    Wettest day since 3rd March with 9.6mm. There were two showers during daylight hours, 1.9mm between 14.30 ad 15.35 followed by 3.8mm between 19.30 and 20.30. A further 3.9mm was logged from light showers overnight. This brings the total for May to 11.6mm but evaporation this month stands at 30mm.

    Warmest morning at 08.00 since 8th December with a reading of 11.5C.

    Warmest soil temperature at a depth of 5cm since 29th September with a reading of 13.4C.

    Lowest barometric pressure since 5th March, at 04.03 this morning, with a reading of 992.9mb. The persistent anticyclone to the north of the UK has given way to a small depression that moved northwards over the west of the UK. As the pressure started to rise the wind veered into the south.

    Dawn was cloudy but shortly after the readings were taken at 08.00 the sun began to break through intermittently.