The weather front (warm) that has been straddling the country for the past couple of days has fed moist, mild air on a southerly track. Yesterday the maximum was 8.6C, 2C above the mean, but unusually this temperature was maintained for nine hours, until late evening, when it fell a couple of degrees. The rainfall total for the past twenty-four hours was 5.9mm.
This morning has dawned, as yesterday, with low, thick cloud and drizzle. The temperature at 08.00 was 8.4C some 7C above the January mean minimum.
Author: Eric Gilbert
-
Unusual temperature stability yesterday
-
After the sunshine, rain that is much needed
Yesterday was a dry day with one hour of strong sunshine in the morning but increasing cloud after midday obscured the sun. The warmest point was reached at 1pm with a maximum of 6.1C, just below the mean for January. The rain arrived just before 1am and has amounted to 3.3mm by 08.00, which brings the total for January to 29.8mm (average is 92.6mm). Winds have been light wth the strongest gust of 19mph yesterday but have dropped out this morning.
Half way through the month the rainfall total is 32% of the 32-year average. After the two very dry months of October and December the Rivers Kennet and Og running through Marlborough are understandably running low. We need much rainfall in the next couple of months to replenish the aquifers. -
North-Westerly, snow and significant wind chill, must be winter!
The thermometer slowly rose yesterday morning to a maximum of 4.8C, 2C below the mean, just before 1pm. This gradually melted most of the powdery snow that fell just before dawn. The strong north-westerly winds, gusting to 28mph, meant that there was a significant wind chill indicating that it was more like -4C. Sunshine yesterday totalled almost 2.3 hours. Overnight there was a slight air frost with a minimum of -0.8C at 02.47, but since then the temperature has risen above freezing to 1.C at 08.00.
Thankfully the wind has now abated and backed more into a westerly. This morning there is high cloud with light winds and the thermometer is slowly rising. -
A touch of winter with snow showers
The Polar Maritime air mass from northern Canada duly arrived yesterday. The thermometer reached a maximum of 5.7C in the morning but the wind veered abruptly from the west into the north just after 3pm. Ax a consequence the temperature started to fall with wet snow falling at 3.30pm and continuing for a couple of hours. The total precipitation was 10.2mm. The wind also increased during the late afternoon with a maximum gust of 36mph at 16.46. The sky then cleared and allowed the temperature to drop slowly to just below freezing.
This morning there was a snow shower before dawn and the minimum registered was -0.4C at 06.47. The morning is starting with a clear sky and the thermometer having moved just above freezing reading 0.2C at 08.00 -
Mild, sunny and dry but what is to come?
Another mild day yesterday with a maximum of 9.0C and almost three hours of strong sunshine. The early hours of today brought the coldest part of the night with a minimum of 3.4C just before 2am but with the advancing cloud the thermometer has risen to 4.1C at 08.00 today. The wind picked up late morning yesterday producing a maximum gust of 26mph just at 13.32.
Since midnight the barometer has been dropping, which heralds another change in the weather with thick cloud moving in from the west but with little wind at the moment.The rainfall total so far this month is 16.3mm, which is just 18% of the long-term mean. The forecast rainfall today will be welcomed as the winter so far has been very dry, evidenced by the very low flow in the River Og and River Kennet.
Latest at 15.35
The wind abruptly veered from the south into the north just after 3pm, today the 12th.
First flakes of wet snow seen within the rain at 3.30. The barometer is still falling fast.