Author: Eric Gilbert

The north-easterly winds continue to dominate our current weather with a maximum of only 1.6C yesterday, just after 1pm, which is 5.5C below the average for February. The thermometer was static for many hours in the evening at 0.8C. No sunshine and no measurable UV light.
Since midnight the wind speed has slowly been increasing, the temperature to also slowly fall and the humidity to rise as thicker cloud enveloped the area. At 08.00 the thermometer read 0.4C with a wind chill that meant it felt more like -3.6C as the wind gusted to 18mph. The very low cloud is enveloping the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest with visibility varying from 500m to 900m.

Yesterday saw the anticyclone over Scandinavia begin to exert its influence over the UK as the barometric pressure continued to rise reaching its highest (1030mb) for three weeks and bringing cloud cover from the east as the wind veered further into the northeast mid-morning. The maximum temperature was at 10.53 with a reading of just 4.7C, over 2C below the average. The thermometer then started to fall continuously, but slowly, reaching a low of 0.8C at 08.00. It was the coldest day since 26th January.
This morning the wind is still light but the drier, colder Polar Continental Air has brought reduced humidity, 93% at 08.00, and a wind chill making it feel like -1C. Thick cloud cover means no sunshine after a brief glimpse yesterday morning.

Yesterday started with light winds from a southerly direction but just after 4pm the wind veered into the north west with a maximum gust of 16mph at 15.48. There were 5.75 hours of strong sunshine, the sunniest day for almost three weeks, which pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 9.9C, which is nearly 3C above the mean for February.
Overnight the temperature slowly dropped following a shower just after midnight that measured 1.2mm. But just after 5am the thermometer dropped abruptly to a minimum of 1.5C at 08.00 giving a brief ground frost.
This morning the sky is predominantly cloudy with breaks for limited weak sunshine and virtually still wind conditions.

There was a little brightness yesterday morning, which slowly lifted the temperature to a maximum of 5.8C at 15.30, still below the mean for January. During the afternoon there was a cold wind from the south east that preceded modest rainfall that started sporadically abut 3.30pm and settled in at dusk, totalling 6.1mm. This brings the total for February to 23.2mm.
This morning the temperature started to drop after 3.30am, to 4.0C at the time of reading, as the weather front that brought the rain cleared away to the east. This allowed the sun to break through that triggered my strong sunshine recorder just after 08.30.

Our weather swings back again from the wet and warm weather to much colder days with yesterday the first dry day since 26th January and a maximum below the mean at 5.7C, the coolest day also since 26th January. There was no strong sunshine and with the wind veering into the north to felt a much colder day.
Overnight the thermometer dropped -2.2C but the sun is beginning to rise above the low cloud on the horizon and slow dispersing the fog, which at dawn limited visibility to 200m.