Wednesday 25th February
Tuesday gave us a very welcome sunny day that saw the thermometer rise to a peak of 13.6C. This high was 5.3C above my long-term average and the fourth consecutive above average maximum. Overnight it did in fact get little warmer rather than cooler as usually happens in winter, rising from around 9C to 10.2C at 05.01 before dropping back to 9.1C at 08.00 on Wednesday. The minimum was a significant 7.1C above average.
During the sunny intervals the UV level rose to 1.8, the highest value since 24th October. The warmth and gentle breeze meant an equivalent loss of rainfall into the atmosphere, due to evaporation from ground sources and plant life, of 1.1mm, the greatest daily loss since 16th October.
Wednesday arrived with total cloud cover with a light southwesterly continuing to bring us the warm, moist air from an area around the Azores. Any brightness during the late morning and afternoon will be overcome by advance cloud from a cold weather front edging in from the west. At the moment it seems as if the possibility of any precipitation will be minimal.
The remainder of the week will see the continuation of the mild and moist airstream although temperatures will fall closer to the March average at the end of the week, Meteorological Spring starts on the 1st March, which is Sunday.
The EU’s air quality control system, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, has been monitoring the Saharan dust cloud as it sweeps across Europe. They comment that “It does look like Saharan dust is on the way to the UK.” “We’re seeing African dust which has been transported southwest of the Iberian Peninsula being picked up by strong southwesterly winds assorted with a low pressure coming our way.” “This low pressure weather system will continue to direct the dust towards the UK.” Fortunately, the UK is set to avoid the worst of it.
At the moment I have not seen evidence of the dust on any horizontal surfaces.