Category: Commentary

Monday gave us a dry and bright day until the two periods of showers arrived at 18.05 and again just after midnight at 01.30 that amounted to 3.6mm. During the brighter periods into the afternoon the thermometer reached 16.3C, which was 2.2C above my 40-year average. During the evening and overnight the temperature slowly fell away, particularly after 04.00 as the wind swung into the west. This was due to the next depression approaching. In fact, after 04.00 a wind chill was produced that meant outside it felt 2C lower than that indicated on the thermometer, which then read 6.9C. The low of 5.9C was logged at 07.55 being 2.2C above my 40-year average.

Tuesday dawned dull and damp with total cloud cover from the next depression that is currently traversing the south of England. As the day progresses the wind is likely to back a few more degrees into the west-northwest and stay strong for most of the day, approaching 40mph. In fact today’s weather is thanks to Storm Pierrick, named by the French Weather service, thus not following the UK alphabetical sequence after Storm Kathleen.

The sting in the tail from Storm Kathleen on Sunday was a very blustery day with the wind frequently topping 30+ mph and a peak gust of 42mph at 14.24. However, it was a dry day with ‘Moderate’ AV level. The low of 9.8C at 04.34 early Monday meant a mild night. Both maximum and minimum were above my 40-year average with +0.7C and +6.1C, respectively.

First light on Monday revealed another dull start with total cloud over, left over from Storm Kathleen, which is now centred between Scotland and Iceland.

Later today the next deep depression, currently off the southwest approaches, will bring more unsettled weather with the wind swinging into the southeast. Later this afternoon the wind will begin to pick up again and give us a very stormy day on Tuesday with wind gusting to 40mph+ and backing into the west.

The strong southerly drift of air on Saturday saw the thermometer soar to 17.2C being 3.1C above my 40-year average and made it the the warmest day since 13th October. The mild weather continued overnight that saw the thermometer not fall below 10.2C at 05.14 early Sunday.

The day was dry, the first this month and the UV level peaked of 4.4, which was at the top end of the ‘Moderate’ category.

Sunday saw the continuation of the strong winds, likely peaking around midday well up to 40mph. Cloud built up after 07.45 as a warm front began to cross our area so little sunshine until later this afternoon. The air was still warm as the thermometer read 11.1C at 08.00.

Storm Kathleen is now to the northwest of Ireland and slowly losing its effect over the UK only to be succeeded by another depression approaching for Monday. The barometric pressure has recovered slightly to read 1006.2mb at 08.00, the highest this month.

A maximum of 15.9C at 14.48 on Friday made it the warmest day since 15th March, in that very warm spell, being 1.8C above my 40-year average. It was a breezy day thanks to the approaching Storm Kathleen. The southwesterly breeze, gusting to 29mph at its peak, brought the very warm air that saw the thermometer overnight drop no lower than 12.3C at 00.10, which was a significant 8.6C above my 40-year average. Another 1.1mm of rainfall was recorded.

Saturday started bright with intermittent sunny spells after 08.00 that saw the thermometer read 14.2C at 08.00. The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm had risen to 11.7C at 08.00.

Storm Kathleen will bring strong winds today, possibly up to 40mph, but it will only be a glancing blow as the centre is tracking northwards up the west coast of Ireland. The centre pressure forecast for midday is an exceptionally low-pressure of 955mb. The reading here at 08.00 was 998.5mb.

The warmer air on Thursday combined with the sunshine, especially in the morning, pushed the thermometer to 15.3C at 14.15 being 1.2C above my 40-year average. It was the warmest day since 17th March (15.9C). The warm, moist air also brought more rain with brief, light showers at 16.45 and more persistent rain starting at 19.00 amounting to 7.5mm. This took the monthly total to 29.6mm, which is 52% of my 40-year average of 57.1mm, within the first four days of April. The majority of the rainfall on Thursday missed our area travelling northeastwards just to the north and south.

The thermometer did not drop below 11.2C, logged at 04.38 early Friday, thanks to the warm air and cloud minimising loss of warmth into the thermosphere.

By 08.00 on Friday there were very brief bursts of sunshine but a predominantly cloudy sky with the thermometer reading 11.4C at 08.00 making it the warmest start to a day at that time since 15th February.

Storm Kathleen, named by Met Eireann, as it will impact them the greatest, is currently off the coast of Portugal but forecast to move northwards up the west coast of Ireland. Between midnight and 12.00 today the centre of this depression is forecast to deepen rapidly dropping a very significant 22mb in 12 hours. This indicates that the wind will rise significantly over the next two days as the depression closes in, also bringing more rain.