Author: Eric Gilbert

Both the maximum of 20.3C late in the afternoon at 16.40 and the minimum of 8.8C early on Sunday at 04.50, were above my 40-year average with +3.0C and + 1.8C respectively.

Sunday began with total cloud cover and it felt quite cool in the brisk northeasterly breeze from the low of 8.8C at 08.00.

The low pressure over the Low Countries and the high-pressure in the eastern Atlantic are continuing to produce an air flow from the north or northeast and likely to for the next three days. The long flow down the NorthSea is collecting moisture overnight and will take time for the cloud to burn off in the mornings.The high pressure is easing in from the west with a slight increase in pressure again, this is keeping weather fronts at bay but shower clouds are always a possibility although we missed the intense showers over the West Country yesterday.

A high of 21.7C from a warm and sunny day was 3.6C above my 40-year average. The day was dry, the eleventh this month, and the UV high. The past night was mild as the temperature did not drop below 9.7C being 2.7C above the long-term average.

Saturday revealed a bright start to the day but no consistent, strong sunshine due to high cloud cover.

An anticyclone in mid-Atlantic is beginning to affect our weather as the recent depression fills and eases away. The barometric pressure has been slowly rising over the last three days with a reading of 1013.5mb at 08.00 with the thermometer reading 15.8C making it the warmest day at that time, this month.

The large area of rain on Thursday, that approached from the east, slowly separated with the larger area travelling to the north of Marlborough and the smaller to the south. However, at 17.05 the rain radar showed a couple of shower clouds beginning to form just to the east of Marlborough that slowly intensified with prolonged and intense rain just to the north of Marlborough, the Ogbourne area at 18.00, then it edged a little northwards for three hours over the Swindon area. So no rain on Thursday for us but the cloud cover meant the UV level was only Moderate at 3.9.

The maximum of 19.8C was 2.5C above average and the mild night produced a minimum of 10.1C being 3.0C above the average.

Glorious sunshine greeted the new day on Friday as the pressure edged upwards so that at 0800 the thermometer read 14.1C.

A high of 19.2C that occurred late in the afternoon at 16.52 on Wednesday was 1.9C above average due to the dry and sunny weather. The southeasterly breeze was quite gusty at times with a maximum gust of 19mph. The past night was much cooler than of late as the thermometer fell to a low of 5.2C in the early hours of Thursday at 05.10 being 1.8C below the average.

Thursday arrived with total cloud cover but bright, the temperature having recovered to 9.2C at 08.00. Over night a small but vigorous depression has developed over the Low Countries. The rainfall radar shows a large, angry area of intense shower activity that is slowly moving westwards and forecast to an arrive here around midday with heavy rainfall. This is associated with the recent depression, now just off the coast of Brittany. The wind is currently from the northeast or east-northeast but after midday will veer quickly into the southwest. There doesn’t seem to be any forecast of a significant increase in wind strength but there could be strong gusts in any squalls that pass our way.

The low-pressure system dominated our weather on Tuesday with a dry day but below average maximum of 16.9C (-0.4C), identical to that logged on Monday, but without the rain. The breeze from the southeast persisted and was brisk, maximum gust of 21mph. The thermometer fell slowly away to a minimum of 10.8C at 06.24 early Wednesday being 3.1C above the average.

Wednesday revealed bursts of sunshine between breaks of cloud before 08.00 with the promise of a sunny day as the centre of low pressure has drifted southwards, now off the cast of Brittany, with its associated slow moving rain band now well to the east of our area. The barometric pressure has risen 4mb since its low on Tuesday andcontiues to rise steadily.

The depression is going to hang around for anther day or two so similar weather for the next day or two.