Category: Commentary

Yet again on Thursday the wind came from the north east, but not quite so strong, that allowed the temperature to rise to 4.3C, still 2.8C below my 40-year average. Only the first three days of this month were above the average. There was light drizzle in the early evening around 17.00. The temperature dropped very little over night thanks to a duvet of thick cloud that minimised any warmth escaping to the atmosphere, as result a minimum of 3.9C (+2.6C) was logged at 08.00 Friday.

Friday didn’t really dawn, it staggered into happening as it was so dark. The total cloud cover remained thick and low. The anticyclone centre is moving very little, edging slowly from the north of Scotland to the west of Scotland so no great changes today with the wind still coning from the northeast or east northeast. The pressure reading at 08.00 was still very high at 1038.3mb, down a touch from its peak of 1040.0mb on Thursday. Due to the slight warmer day and night the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has risen to 3.1C at 08.00 from a low of 0.2C yesterday.

Thanks to the northeasterly, again strong on Wednesday gusting to 25mph, the thermometer only reached 4.0C (3.1C below average) even though there were many hours of welcome sunshine. It was a dry day with the UV level up a touch to 0.6.

Thursday first thing revealed some brightness but predominantly cloudy. The wind has backed a few degrees into the north-northeast but is likely to veer into the northeast again later today as the high pressure moves position.

The anticyclone is building rapidly this morning with a reading of 1037.3mb at 08.00, up 7mb on Wednesday, the highest since 16th December. The pressure at its centre, just off the north coast of Scotland was 1045mb at 08.00.

The brisk northeasterly wind did not let uo on Tuesday limiting the temperature by day to just 2.3C, some 4.9V below average and a wind chill again that meant it felt at least 2C colder outside. The minimum of -0.5C was logged at 21.38 producing an air frost for a few hours but by 08.00 on Wednesday there was a slight lot to 0.2C

Wednesday arrived with clear skies and the prospect of some sunshine. The anticyclone has changed little, just a reduction of 1mb since Tuesday.

The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm read 0.1C at 08.00 not seen since 25th January 2023

The persistent northeasterly air stream on Monday, gusting to 24mph, meant a cold day with the thermometer not rising above 2.4C. This was a significant 4.5C below my 40-year average but also the coldest day since 1st December. There was also a windchill that outside making it feel at least 2C lower than that indicated on an exterior thermometer. A minimum air temperature of -0.1C was logged at 07.06 on Tuesday being 1.4C below my 40-year average,

Tuesday morning revealed similar conditions as on Monday with overcast skies and the wind, initially coming from the east-northeast but later backing into the north east. The strong wind is again producing a wind chill. At 08.00 the thermometer read 0.1C but my computerised weather station calculated that it felt more like -3C due to windchill thanks to the strong wind and lower humidity (86%). The anticyclone is changing shape causing the wind direction changes but pressure is still very high with 1031.1mb logged at 08.00, down 2mb since that recorded on Monday.

Thanks to the brisk northeasterly the thermometer struggled to each 3.7C on Sunday, some 3.4C below my 40-year average. The wind was brisk so that it felt outside some 2C blow that indicated on an outside thermometer classed as wind chill. The overnight minimum of -0.2C occurred at 03.40 Monday so there was briefly a ground frost. By 08.00 Monday, the thermometer had eased upwards, above freezing, to 1.1C.

Monday initially saw much clear sky but by 07.30 a large, thick bank of cloud could be seen to the northeast that by 08.00 had almost completely covered the sky. It was the coldest start to a day for a month. The airstream from the northeast is much drier, a humidity reading at 08.00 logged 79% making it the lowest humidity at that tine since 26th June (70%). The barometric pressure at 08.00 was 1033.6mb, the highest since 16th December (1040.8mb).

The anticyclone centre has edged eastwards so that the anticlockwise rotation of air continues to come from the northeast.