Category: Commentary

The north then northwest airstream on Tuesday meant a cold day being 4C to 5C down on previous days with a maximum of just 6.9C. That low temperature was 1.0C below the 39-year average and combined with the strong wind gusting to 27mph at times produced a wind chill that meant outside if felt more like 4C than 7C.

During the evening the temperature slowly began to fall away, quicker after midnight, to reach a minimum of 0.6C at 02.31. However, another weather front then began to cross our area bringing thick cloud and light rain or drizzle, amounting to just 0.4mm, that reversed the temperature drop so that by 08.00 the thermometer read 3.4C.

Thursday didn’t really dawn as it was so dark and dull under the very low, thick cloud producing light drizzle. The barometric pressure has been rising with an increase of 20mb in the past twenty-four hours so eventually today will tend to become drier and brighter. This is due to an anticyclone building in the eastern Atlantic throwing a ridge of high pressure over the UK. The other significant feature is that the wind in the early hours backed from northwest to southwest, later will veer into the west, this wind direction means moist, milder air so the temperature should slowly recover during the day.

The peak of 10.7C on Tuesday, thanks to heavy cloud and showery conditions that added 4.3mm of rainfall. Thus was still 2.7C above the long-term average but the lowest for four days. The minimum overnight occurred on Wednesday at 08.00 with a low of 6.9C being 4.6C above the average.

The maximum temperatures have been slowly dropping over the last four days as we begin to lose the influence of the warm, moist Atlantic air with 12.3C, 11.7C, 11.0C and 10.7C respectively. Wednesday will see this trend continue. The recent depression is slowly edging eastwards over the Continent as a result the wind has already veered from the southwest to northwest and later today will come from the north. This is a cooler airflow so the maximum today will be down on those of the last four days, probably a single figure.

Wednesday arrived dull and dark with total cloud cover and feeling cooler in the nor-norwest airstream.

It was a little cooler on Monday but still above average (+3.0C) with a high of 11.0C. The past night was also mild. The temperature dropped away to 6.9C at 17.20 Monday evening before beginning to climb again as the thick cloud, ahead of the next depression, moved in resulting in a temperature of 9.0C at 08.00 Tuesday.

There was torrential rain observed at 02.30 early Tuesday that amounted to 9.5mm taking the monthly total to 65.2mm being 70% of the long-term average.

Tuesday arrived with total cloud cover and sporadic rain mid-morning. The barometric pressure had dropped low again at 08.00 to 999.1mb as the centre of the next depression was almost overhead Tuesday morning. As it exits southeast later today the wind will come round to northeast on Wednesday.

Sunday was another very wet and windy day thanks to Storm Fergus that deposited another 3.6mm of rainfall although it was another very mild day. The thermometer crept upwards to a maximum of 11.7C at 13.48 before slowly falling during the evening to reach a low of 8.3C at 07.44 on Monday making it the warmest night since 21st November. The maximum get of wind was 30mph, down on the peak of 33mph on Saturday.

Monday arrived with broken sunshine with the promise of a drier day before the next depression arrives on Tuesday.

The mild, moist air pushed the thermometer to 12.3C on Saturday. That was a significant 4.3C above the 39-year average with the minimum of 7.3C, that occurred at 03.57 in the early hours of Sunday, being 5.0C above the long-term average. The rainfall on Saturday ceased mid-morning adding another 1.8mm to the monthly total, now 52.1mm, the rest of the day was fine as Storm Elin eased away to the northeast. The minimum barometric pressure was 991.0mb, the lowest since 10th November.

Sunday revealed a cloudy sky, if thin and relatively high but beginning to show signs of thickening as another storm is closing in, this time Storm Fergus, named by Met Eireann with heavy rain late morning. The wind has backed a few degrees no mainly coming from the southwest.