Category: Commentary

By Sunday morning the wind had veered into the north and north-northeast, a cool Arctic air flow. As a result of the cool air and minimal sunshine the thermometer only reached 9.2C making it the coolest day since the 15th and 1.5C below the average.

It was dry after six successive wet days but the UV level was ‘Low’ due to the cloud cover.

It was a cool night with the minimum of 2.7C occurring at 07.40 on Monday being just 0.3C above the average.

There were very brief glimpses of sunshine on Monday morning but a predominantly cloudy start to the day. We are temporarily under a ridge of high pressure that saw a significant rise of 24mb in the past twenty-four hours, as a result it will be dry day with the light wind coming from the north east.

The past twenty-four hours produced another 14.9mm of precipitation making it the wettest day since 13th January (22.8mm). That additional rainfall fell from midnight to 08.00 and took the monthly rainfall total to 108.7mm being 185% of the 29-year average.

The wind on Saturday came predominantly from the west then northwest gusting to 27mph. This cooler airstream limited the warmth although during the morning the thermometer rose to 13.0C being 2.4C above the average.

The overnight low of 5.3C was 2.9C above the average.

The start to Sunday revealed a gloomy beginning to Summertime with low cloud and the back-edge of the very wide rain band with the rain reducing in intensity. The air movement has veered again and now very light and from the northeast.

Friday brought another wet and windy day with the southwesterly wind gusting to 29mph and hustling along showers from time to time. The thermometer reached 12.6C at 10.28 but then fell back, the lowest high for four days but still 2.0C above the average. The low of 6.6C occurred just after midnight being 4.2C above the average.

The showers produced another 4.2mm of precipitation that took the monthly total 93.8mm being 35mm above the 39-year average also the wettest March since 2018, which was the wettest on record with 130.9mm.

Saturday saw brief intermittent bursts of sunshine between the fast moving clouds. The depression that has lurked to the west of Ireland the past few days moved across the country yesterday and has now joined with a low pressure system over Scandinavia. This has resulted int the wind veering into the west today and by tomorrow is likely to veer further with the wind coming from a northerly quadrant on Sunday.

Another mild and damp day on Thursday with both maximum of 13.2C and minimum of 5.5C logged at 05.01 on Friday, were above average with +2.6C and +3.1C respectively.

Rain set in just before 15.00 that continued until early evening producing another 8.9mm of precipitation. That took the monthly total to 89.6C, which is 152% of the 39-year average.

Friday arrived bright and sunny but just before 07.45 light, wispy cloud arrived rushing across the sky driven on by the continuing brisk southwesterly breeze. The depression that has been lurking to the west of Ireland is forecast to migrate across that country and northern England as the day progresses that will still maintain the strong southwesterly wind that was gusting to 30 mph on Thursday.

Another warm day and night with temperatures again above average with a maximum of 14.4C (+3.8C) and a low of 6.7C (+4.3C) at 06.30 on Thursday.

A further substantial fall of rain began at 21.00 Wednesday evening and returned just before midnight when intense rain fell briefly at a rate of 160mm/hour. The daily rainfall total was 12.mm taking the monthly total 80.7mm, which is 22mm above the 39-year average.

Variable cloud on Thursday morning allowed glimpses of strong sunshine that lifted the temperature to 9.7C at 0800.