Author: Eric Gilbert

The numerous hours of welcome strong sunshine on Monday boosted the temperature to a maximum of 22.8C, late in the afternoon at 17.24, which was 2.2C above my 40-year average. The breeze from the southwest was light and combined with a UV level of Very High, meant it fell quite hot. The low of 86C was logged at 02.30 early Tuesday being 1.6C below the average.

The loss of equivalent rainfall through evaporation from ground sources and plant life has amounted to over 4mm on both Sunday and Monday.

Tuesday arrived with more sunshine after sunrise as a result the thermometer read 15.1C at 08.00. The wind direction overnight has changed significantly veering from the southwest into the north, as a result there is a slightly cooler feel to the breeze.

The anticyclone in mid-Atlantic is beginning topple over across the UK and is forecast to continue for a few days. As a result the barometric pressure had risen to 1014.7mb at 08.00, the highest pressure since the 13th, which should give us a few fine mainly dry days.

A high of 20.8C on Sunday at 16.22, in the strong, late afternoon sunshine, was just above average +0.2C, the first since the 3rd. However, the clear skies overnight meant another cool night that saw the thermometer drop to 6.2C at 04.17 early Monday.

Monday brought a glorious start to the new day with strong sunshine in a blue sky with just whips of thin high cloud. This warmth had lifted the thermometer to 15.7C at 08.00 making it the warmest start to a day this month at that time.

The recent depression has at last drifted away into Scandinavia and being replaced by a very welcome high pressure that is currently in the Atlantic and will bring us drier and sunnier conditions. This anticyclone will produce a ridge of high pressure over the UK for the next few days, thus this week is looking to be more like summer.

The Jet Stream is at last repositioning itself more to the north of the UK than it has for months, and looks as is this will continue for a week or two from the projections. Therefore, more drier and warmer days are ahead.

Saturday was the warmest day for a week BUT it was still 3.2C below my 40-year average thanks to rain until around 10.30 followed by frequent showers. The maximum of 17.4C was logged at 15.37. The low of 10.3C was the highest since the 4th and just above average, only the second time this month. The depression was still close producing a southwesterly breeze, quite strong, with a maximum gust of 24mph.

The additional precipitation of 2.8mm took the monthly total to 19.6mm, just 36% of my 40-year average.

There was a little brightness at first on Sunday but cloud thickened around 08.00 limiting any sunshine. The centre of the low pressure has eased a little northwards that will bring a breeze from the west today.

With showers on and off during daylight hours and overnight it was not surprising to find that yet again the maximum of 16.9C, that occurred early on the day at 10.15, was 3.7C below my 40-year average. After a bright start cloud built up after mid-morning limiting sunshine to brief bursts. The minimum of 8.4C occurred at 05.15 early Saturday that was also below average at -1.8C.

The daily rainfall amounted to 7.9mm.

Saturday began bright after dawn with good sunshine but cloud was observed arriving from the west that began to weaken the sunshine by 06.20 and totally obscure the sun from 06.40. Rain began to fall at 06.55.

The reason for this unseasonably cool and wet weather lies at the door of the low pressure system that has been plaguing us for two days and has moved closer to us. The barometric pressure read 998.6mb at 08.00, the lowest for two months and will produce a breeze from the southwest or west-southwest.

Thursday was another of the very cool days with the first rain drops observed at 14.20 but sporadic light bursts continued until early evening with the heaviest falls between 18.30 and 19.00 that in total amounted to 3.6mm. That additional precipitation took the monthly total to 8.9mm when the 40-year average is 53.8mm

It was cool as the thermometer struggled to reach 15.7C at 13.17, which was 4.9C below my 40-year average. After that time the temperature slowly began to drift downwards to around 13C for much of the late afternoon and then dropping to a minimum of 10.7C at 05.31 early Friday. Thankfully that was the last of the very cool nights, which gardeners will appreciate. That low made it only the second above average minimum this month, after 11.7C on the 4th.

Friday initially brought us a little brightness but around 08.00 the cloud began to thicken and obscure the sun as another weather front crossed our area with the rain radar showing heavy showers over the West Country heading our way by mid-morning. A showery day is ahead.

The centre of the low is much closer with a barometric reading of 1001.3mb at 08.00, the lowest pressure this month. Sadly for the summer month of June, this depression is going to be with us for possibly three days and not until Monday is it likely to improve significantly.