The last day of October brought almost four hours of strong sunshine and a maximum of 17.6C, the warmest day of the month, after a foggy start. After another dry day the rainfall total for October is 31.7mm, the driest October I have recorded since my records began in 1984.
The fog formed again overnight and this morning the visibility is down to 150m. The temperature dropped steadily until 04.57, with a minimum of 4.6C but then rose ago to 7.8C at 08.00.
Author: Eric Gilbert
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Yesterday was the warmest day of the month
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Fog again and thick
Although the cloud yesterday was less dense than on saturday there was no sunshine, the second consecutive day, making just four this month. Although daytime maxima are close to average, due to the cloud cover overnight the minima are still above average, sometimes as much as 4C. With no rainfall again, it is looking at being a record dry October (31.7mm) with my data going back to 1984.
Thick fog again formed overnight in the still conditions with visibility closing to 100m at 08.00. -
Only third sunless day this month
Yesterday was a very depressing day with thick, low cloud and light drizzle throughout daylight hours. It was another mild night with a minimum of 10.8C, which is 3.5C above the average. The barometer has dropped 4mb but the anticyclone is trapping stagnant air below it. The maximum gust was just 10 mph yesterday but there were long periods with little or no movement of air.
This morning at dawn the cloud had occasional breaks but after 07.30 low cloud and fog, with a visibility down to 600 metres, drifted in from the east. -
Warmest night for a month
We usually associate high pressure with fine, sunny weather. However, the anticyclone currently sitting over the UK, high yesterday of 1035.4mb, was described this morning by a Meteorological Office presenter as a dirty’ high being ‘contaminated with much cloud’. We did see short glimpses of sunshine yesterday morning with 0.98 hours.
This morning the low, thick cloud is still present. With just 31.3mm of rainfall to date and with no rainfall in the forecast, October 2016 is currently the driest October in the last 33 years. -
Mild nights return
After the fog lifted yesterday we enjoyed 3.0 hours of strong sunshine. The total number of hours of strong sunshine this month already totals 90, which is far more than in 2015 and 2014 that had 72 and 66 hours respectively. This instrument was only installed in early 2014 so there is no long-term data with which to compare this total for 2016. The south-westerly breeze has brought mild air that with cloud cover overnight, meant a minimum of 10.5C, which is 3C above the 33-year mean minimum.
This morning has dawned with thick cloud and the anticyclone has intensified with a high of 1032.9mb.