Category: Commentary

The southwesterly breeze on Friday meant a very mild day that saw the thermometer rise to 10.3C at 13.03, which was 2.3C above the average. The temperature then fell lowly to a minimum of 6.7C just after midnight at 00.30 before rising again as the next weather band arrived, lifting to 9.4C at 08.00 on Saturday.

Rain began to fall from the latest depression at 02.40 that had accumulated 16.3mm by 08.00 on Saturday taking the month rainfall total 50.3mm being 54% of the 39-year average,

Saturday began dark and very wet again as the back end of the very wide rain band crossed the area with rain still falling steadily at 08.00.The centre of the depression is over northern Ireland and moving across Scotland with a centre low of 998mb. Our pressure reading at 08.00 was 992.1mb, the lowest since the 10th December.

The southerly breeze, gusting to 29mph, meant a mild day on Thursday with a maximum of 8.8C being 0.9C above the average. The thermometer hovered around 6.5C during the daytime but in the evening slowly rose to the maximum of 8.8C at 20.39 before slowly falling back again. It was a dull and damp day as the 100 mile wide rain band slowly crossed our area with another 4.1mm of precipitation taking the monthly total to 34.0m, the average is 92.7mm.

Friday arrived with brightness and the promise of some sunshine, if muted at this time in December. The depression to the west of Ireland will mean the wind will come from the southwest for most of the day.

Light rain arrived during the late evening of Wednesday but more so after midnight with another 2.8mm taking the monthly total to 29.9mm. After a cold start the temperature hovered just above 2C for much of the day but the effects of the next depression were observed as after 18.30 the thermometer began to rise very slowly as cloud cover and a shift in wind position meant that by 23.00 the temperature had risen to 5.9C. At the same time the wind direction began to veer a few degrees from southeast to south and began to rise in strength, a peak gust of 29mph was logged at 03.58 in the early hours of Thursday.

Thursday did not really dawn being very dark and damp as the new day arrived. The temperature had risen a little further to read 7.0C at 08.00. The next depression is quite deep with a centre pressure of 961mb at 08.00 and positioned just to the west of the UK but heading our way with more rain and strong winds. Our pressure reading was 1008.4mb at 0800, a drop of 10mb since yesterday.

Tuesday was a cold and murky day with the minimum of 5.4C being 2.6C below the long-term average thanks to the northerly airflow, but thankfully light, with a maximum gust of just 16mph. The thermometer dropped away overnight, under initially clearer skies, to reach a minimum of 1.7c at 06.26 on Wednesday. However, this allowed fog to form that began to get more dense after daylight dropping from around 500m just after 07.00 to 200m at 08.00.

The air flow on Wednesday will come from the southeast as the last depression drifts away and a much deeper depression in mid-Atlantic has the UK lined up for Thursday bringing much more rain. The barometric pressure at 08.00 was 1018.6mb, the highest this month but will drop away as the depression closes in. The thermometer read 2.1C at 08.00 so no air frost.

Although Monday was a dull and damp day with a daily total of 7.7mm of precipitation, mainly during the evening between 2130 and 2230, the rain band got stuck to the west when up to 85mm fell in twelve hours. In fact we were between a wide and almost stationary rain band to the west and a minor rain band to the east for most of the afternoon and early evening. A maximum temperature of 8.1C was just above the average +0.2C as was the minimum of 3.5C +1.2C at 05.20 early Tuesday. No UV registered due to the continuous thick, low cloud and not surprisingly no global sunshine that registers even in light cloud.

Tuesday didn’t really dawn as it was so dull and damp with another rain band approaching from the north. It will be a cool, damp day again with the wind continuing from the north.