Author: Eric Gilbert

Friday gave us another very sunny day with 4.58 hours of strong sunshine. As a result the UV level at 1.8 and the solar energy generated was the highest since 23rd October. Fortunately the high winds generated by storm Doris had abated with a maximum gust of 21mph. Overnight the thermometer fell initially but the thicker cloud has produced a mild morning with a temperature of 7.7C at 08.00.
The thick cloud this morning is blocking out any possibility of sunshine and the wind is slowly increasing due to the barometric pressure falling since midday yesterday heralding the arrival further weather fronts.

Storm Doris made its presence felt yesterday, but not as severe as areas closer to the very low-pressure. The peak wind of 42mph occurred at 10.34 but frequent gusts to 40mph were often noted between 11am and 2pm. As the cold front moved away to the east, broken cloud spread across on the slowly abating westerly wind allowing welcome strong sunshine (2.15 hours) to break through.
Overnight the clearer sky meant the thermometer slowly fell to a minimum of 1.3C just before 4am, although it recovered to 2.4C at 08.00 but not before a ground frost occurred resulting from the much lower temperature. The sun has risen into a mainly clear sky with the thermometer slowly rising.

The lead up to the arrival of storm Doris was another cloudy and damp day yesterday with the modest winds dropping down in the afternoon. The thermometer rose to a maximum of 11.1C just after 2pm and also fell away before stabilising for most of the evening at 10C.
The wind strength began to pick up after midnight with a maximum gust of 39mph at 05.05 this morning. A cold front, associated with Storm Doris, passed over the area for a brief time between 7.00 and 7.15am this morning with very strong wind gusts and torrential rain, which at its peak was falling at a rate of 30mm/hour.
At this point the barometric pressure halted its downward fall, the wind abruptly veered from the south into the west and the thermometer registered a drop of 2C within a quarter of an hour levelling out at 8.1C when readings were taken at 08.00. Combined with the strong winds this gave a wind chill factor in that it felt more like 5C.

Update: Peak wind gust of 42mph at 10.34 this morning. 10 minute average wind speed of 14mph at 13.00. Record February gust was on 14th February 2014 with a maximum of 55mph.

Yesterday gave us another of the totally cloudy days we have endured this month with drizzle on and off and occasional light showers amounting to 1.5mm. This brings the total for February to 33.7mm when the mean is 65.5mm.
Overnight the cloudy conditions continued with the wind this morning beginning to pick up, maximum gust 25mph.
The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm is now the warmest since 10th December at 9.3C.

The tropical air pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 12.2C yesterday. This was the warmest day for two months but not a record as in February 2011 I recorded a maximum of 12.7C. There was a little brightness late morning but the cloud filled in after midday and the wind picked up with a gust of at 22mph at 15.19. Overnight there was light drizzle amounting to 0.4mm but a very mild night wth a minimum of 9.2C when the February mean is 1.3C.

The new slider images were taken at the Welford Estate, Berkshire