Category: Commentary

After a wet morning on Wednesday followed by light drizzle until 13.30, when the afternoon began to dry up and brighten, lifting the thermometer to 12.8C being 2.6C above the average. Initially the temperature fell away during the evening to reach a low of 4.9C at 22.05 before rising again to reach 6.4C at 08.00 Thursday. This about turn was due to another weather front, with its associated cloud and rain arriving in the early hours.

The daily rainfall total was 5.1mm that took the monthly total to 58.8mm being 65% of the 39-year average.

The UV level of 0.7 was not surprisingly the lowest since 8th March due to the low, thick cloud that persisted until after 14.00.

Thursday was initially dull thanks to the hang back of cloud from the weather front but by 08.30 a little brightness was evident. The deep low is currently centred off the northwest coast of Ireland that bring a breeze from the southwest and probably at times west-northwest.

Although Tuesday was a sunny and warm day, a maximum of 12.2C was 2C abject the average, two weather fronts crossed our area after midnight. As a result, rain began to fall just before 04.00 and amounted to 3.9mm by 08.00 on Wednesday. The thick, low cord associated with these weather fronts meant a fall in temperature to 5.7C at 00.13 Wednesday, but was then reversed and rose to 10.6C at 08.00 Wednesday.

By 08.00 on Wednesday morning the heaviest of the rain had moved eastwards and was becoming lighter and later, more broken. Due to another deep depression in the eastern Atlantic, that has caused the change in our weather, the barometric pressure has been falling again with a reading of 1003.3mb at 08.00. As a consequence of the less cold second half of the night and recent sunshine the temperature of the soil at a depth of 5cm has risen from its low of 4.6C on Tuesday at 08.00 to 8.4C at that time on Wednesday.

Another day and night with above average temperatures with a maximum of 12.5C (+2.3C) and minimum of 5.3C (+1.4C) at 07.36 Tuesday. Monday was the first completely dry day for two weeks, last was October 22nd.

Tuesday dawned bright with welcome sunshine shortly after sunrise. A temporary ridge of high pressure, easing down from the northwest, will bring another dry day with variable sunshine. The pressure reading at 08.00 was 1008.4mb, a rise of 11mb since Monday and a significant increase of 51mb since the extreme low on Thursday. The light wind will continue from a mainly westerly direction.

The bright sunshine on Sunday saw the thermometer rise to 12.6C (+2.4C) with an overnight low of 5.9C (+2.0C). Only one day and not were below average this month so far.

We were greeted by continuous sunshine on Monday after sunrise due to a rise in the barometric pressure that will continue into Tuesday as a short-lived ridge of high pressure edges in. The pressure reading at 08.00 was 997.4mb, a rise of 17mb that should suppress most of the shower activity but provide more welcome sunshine.

After a wet start on Saturday, that brought anther 2.7mm of rainfall, there was some afternoon sunshine that lifted the thermometer to 13.3C being 3.1C above the 39-year average. With clearing skies in the evening the temperature began to drop steadily to reach a minimum of 3.3C (0.6C below average) at 23.46 before the thermometer did an about turn and then began to rise reaching 7.0C at 08.00 on Sunday.

Sunday brought glorious sunshine after dawn with minimal cloud. The wind changed direction overnight to come today from the northwest and then west, a cooler direction but drier direction, due to the depression having moved off into the North Sea. The humidity at 08.00 was 94%, the lowest at that time since 18th October. The pressure at 08.00 read 980.2mb, the highest for two days, but relatively low even for the autumn time.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm read 6.7C at 08.00, the lowest since 25th April. Day and nighttime temperatures have been falling away for a couple of months as autumn progresses towards winter.