Category: Commentary

In the sunshine and out of the breeze on Tuesday the sunshine for 11.5 hours felt warm but the Artic airstream limited the rise in temperature to 11.5C, which was 2.6C below the average. However, it was a dry day and the UV level of 6.0 took it into the ‘High’ category and was the strongest since 28th August.

The thermometer sank to a minimum of 3.8C at 06.10 on Wednesday being exactly average for April.

Wednesday arrived with total cloud cover, although there was a brief ray of sunshine at 07.50. A warm front is lurking to the southwest that eventually should bring a warmer airstream but not likely to have much effect today. The breeze will be light and veer from the northeast to southeast as the day progresses.

After a dry start to Monday with some sunshine it clouded over at midday with light rain beginning to fall at 13.15 amounting to 5.1mm. The temperature dropped away markedly after 14.00 from a maximum of 11.1C to 6C in the early evening.

A temporary ridge of high pressure meant the skies cleared during the night leading to an air frost, just, with a low of -0.3C at 06.15 Tuesday.

The monthly rainfall total to date of 63.3mm is 7mm above the 39-year average.

The ridge of high pressure, just for today, brought a sunny start to the day, if chilly, but that persistent wind from the northeast and north yesterday has fallen away with calm conditions. The Arctic airstream, originating from north of Greenland, is still with us so temperatures by day and night will continue to be depressed.

The last of the recent warmer air pushed the thermometer to 14.6C on Sunday being 0.5C above the average whilst the minimum of 3.9C was also above average, just (+0.2C). There was a little rain at 1900 and then 2015 with 1.0mm of precipitation.

Monday arrived with welcome sunshine that lifted the temperature to 7.1C by 0800. However, the centre of the depression is now over Denmark, that means its wind circulating anticlockwise will bring down the Arctic airstream as two cold weather fronts cross the area. The wind direction will shorty change from northwest to fluctuate during the afternoon before settling into a northeasterly. As a result of the airstream coming from north of Greenland the temperature under the cloud cover and rain will rise very little from its current level, so a cold, wet day in prospect.

The maximum of 13.1C on Saturday was 1C below the average but Sunday will be cooler and by Monday it will feel distinctly cold as the Artic air streams down across the country. The past night was reactively mild with a low of 7.9C being 4.2C above the average

A little rain rain fell in the past twenty-four hours amounting to 1.9mm that took the monthly rainfall total 57.2mm and exceeded the 39-year average by just 0.6mm.

Sunday revealed another cloudy start to the day, there was the odd, brief glimpse of brightness. The wind will veer into the northwest today before veering further into the north tomorrow morning. The much colder Arctic airstream is forecast to arrive overnight that will see a couple of very cold days for April, possibly a maximum as much as 5C below average.

The persistent cloud cover combined with the brisk northeasterly breeze meant a cold day on Friday with the thermometer not rising above 9.4C, which was a significant 4.7C below the 39-year average.

Light rain began to fall just after 12.15 that produced 0.6mm of precipitation and took the monthly total to 55.3mm, just below the average off 56.6mm.

The wind veered into the southeast late in the day that combined with less cloud saw the thermometer drop steadily during the evening to reach a minimum of -1.7C at 05.38 early Saturday. This was the second coldest night in April.

Saturday dawned with fog that initially limited visibility to around 500m but by 07.30 was dispersing. Broken sunshine soon followed but the thermometer had only reached 0.5C by 08.00. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1006.1mb, the lowest pressure for a week.