Author: Eric Gilbert

After the wet days recently it was a treat to enjoy sunshine yesterday, 2.5 hours of strong sunshine. This pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 8.4C, with relatively light winds, that made it a very pleasant day for early February. During the evening there was a light shower amounting to 0.9mm and for a time stronger winds gusting to 24mph at 20.25. Overnight the thermometer did not drop below 1.9C, but this morning has dawned foggy with visibility down to 200m.

The storm did not materialise although we did have several hours of rain and strong winds. The total rainfall was 5.7mm and the thermometer rose to a maximum of 8.2C, a degree above the mean. Just after 18.45 last night the barometer began to rise rapidly and the temperature dropped 3C within half an hour. It was also at this time, 18.51, that the strongest gust of wind was recorded at 30mph. The coldest point was at 08.00 this morning,at the time of reading, with a minimum of 0.4C giving a grand frost.
Today has dawned with high cloud and still wind conditions as the barometer rises rapidly.

The unsettled weather has settled in with more rain, 4.2mm, in the past twenty-four hours. The wind picked up during the morning, peaking at 35mph late afternoon. After midnight the wind fell increasingly lighter before the next depression makes itself felt today. The barometric pressure fell to 991mb late yesterday, the lowest since 20th November. The maximum yesterday was 10.9C, another mild day and 3C above the average for February, likewise the minimum of 5.4C, just before dawn this morning was 4C above the average.

The change to wet and windy weather is now well established with 6.3mm of rain in the past twenty-four hours and winds gusting to 26mph. However, there were a few brighter spells around midday when the UV level rose to its highest since 13th November and 0.2 hours of strong sunshine.

JANUARY SUMMARY
Sir Walter Scott the author wrote in January 1831 “A base gloomy day and dispiriting in proportion …. everything gloomy as the back of the chimney when there is no fire in it”. This quotation seems eminently applicable to the several days when very low cloud, fog and mist were evident this past month.

I suspect that the overriding memories of the past month were not only the number of mornings that arrived with low cloud and fog or mist but also the number of frosty mornings.

If we look initially at the temperature I find that it was the coldest January since the exceptional January of 2010. The average daytime temperature was average but the large number and depth of frosts meant that the minimum was 1.2C below the long-term average.

There were 17 days when we awoke to an air frost, which is 7 more than the average for this month. The persistent cold and dry air from an easterly direction from the 18th to the 27th gave 10 consecutive days with an air frost, the most severe being on the morning of the 21st when the thermometer dropped to -5.9C.

The ground at a depth of 5cm gave a reading below freezing on 6 mornings due the frequency and depth of the frosts with a minimum of -3.3C on the 21st. This specialist thermometer showed a recovery to 6.3C at the end of the month as the warmer air arrived.

There was high barometric pressure for much of the month with the blocking anticyclone sitting to the east of the UK, deflecting weather fronts from the Atlantic. In fact the average barometric pressure for the month, at the 08.00 recording time, was a record at 1023mb. This all changed from the 28th, which allowed the warmer and moist air to arrive from the west.

With the winter so far providing below average rainfall it was notable that January followed this trend with a total of 79.7mm, which is 86% of the long-term average or 13mm below.

The wettest day occurred on the 29th with 16.0 mm of rainfall with the 31st providing another 13.8mm.

There were 7 days when no UV light was recorded, although the strength began to build towards the end of the month as the sun began it’s return to this part of the world.

There were 54 hours of strong sunshine, the sunniest day occurring on the 20th with 6.6 hours. This occurred in the middle of the period from the 18th to the 22nd when we enjoyed sunny days with blue skies. This instrument was only installed in 2014 so no long-term average with which to compare this result.

Fog was a problem on 4 days with visibility down to 150m on the 7th and 25th. Small hail (less than 5mm) was seen in the brief shower that occurred late afternoon of the 28th.

Finally, we did have a little snow. Wet snow fell within the rain during the cold afternoon of the 12th with dry snow (almost 1cm in depth) falling just before dawn on the following day. This latter fall quickly melted, if under the direct influence of the sun, during the late morning.

In the middle of winter the Japanese Proverb that says, “One kind word can warm three winter months” is worth remembering and applying.

The waves of moisture and drizzle swept over the area continuously yesterday with no sunshine. Late evening there was more persistent rainfall and also just after 3am this morning, totalling 13.8mm. This brings the total for January to 79.7mm, which is 86% of the January average. For the first time in many years I noticed that for around half an hour, starting just before 6pm, when there was heavier rain, the humidity reached 100%. Late evening the thermometer began to edge upwards to peak just before midnight with a maximum of 10.8C, some 4C above the mean for January.
This morning has dawned with thick cloud again, not as low as yesterday, with the remains of a light rain band and a temperature of 7.0C at 08.00.