Category: Commentary

It snowed all day on Wednesday, with brief breaks, as the weather front moved across the area. The breeze from the northeast was from a cool direction so that combined with the thick, low, cloud it was not surprising to find that it was the coldest day since 14th December with a maximum of just 1.2C being 9.4C below the March average. The additional precipitation amounted to 9.1mm that took the monthly total to 20.4mm being 34% of the long-term average and almost twice the February total.

The thermometer hovered around 1C for much of the night although it did dip to 0.5C at 02.30 on Thursday before recovering to 1.1C at 08.00.

Thursday arrived with light rain as the warm front approached, continuing the steady thaw, with the wind changing to come from a more southerly quadrant during the day.

A depression in the channel brought a weather front across the area in the early hours of Wednesday after the thermometer had dropped below freezing at 20.45 with a minimum of -0.4C at 21.35. The first light snow was observed at 03.05 on Wednesday before it became heavier and stopped at 07.35. There was 8cm of level snow due to the calm conditions during the main snowfall. The melted snow from the 5″ Meteorological standard copper rain gauge amounted to 6.1mm of precipitation making it the wettest day since 15th January. It was the first air frost this month.

With the arrival of the snow bearing cloud the temperature lifted just above freezing in the early hours that by 05.00 reached 0.2C and 0.4C at 08.00. It has been the coldest start to a day this month.

Wednesday brought further light snow flakes after 08.15 with more likely later in the day. The closeness of the depression saw the barometric pressure fall further with a reading of 990.7mb at 08.00, the lowest pressure since 17th January.

There were a couple of light showers during the afternoon but more rain fell briefly at 23.00 and then started again at 01.50 that turned to snow as the temperature dropped. The thermometer rose to 8.9C at 12.15 on Monday and then slowly dropped to around 6C for the evening. Thereafter, the temperature fell away to reach a minimum of 0.6C at 05.12.

The cold front arrived in the early hours of Tuesday bringing precipitation and a change in wind direction.

Tuesday at first light revealed a light coating of snow on the soft ground, not hard surfaces. By 08.00 the thermometer had recovered to 1.1C when a slight thaw of lying snow took place whilst very light snow, more consistency of drizzle, fell briefly at 07.40. The total precipitation amounted to 4.2mm.

This change in our weather was brought about by the depression sinking southwards down the east coast of the UK with the airstream veering from the west into the northwest. The barometric pressure had dropped to 1000.3mb at 08.00 due to the nearby depression. This is the lowest pressure reading since 18th January.

Sunday was dry but yet again was gloomy with thick cloud cover. The temperature varied little during daylight hours reaching a maximum of only 4.5C, which was 6.1C below the average. During the evening the thermometer began to show a change as any warmth began to seep away so that a minimum of 0.9C was logged at 23.45, which was 1.5 C below the average. Thereafter, cloud began to return with two linked showers arriving at 05.05 and lasting for 40 minutes, but light, just producing 1.0mm of precipitation, the first since 24th February.

Monday was a little brighter start to the day but still total cloud cover, although higher and thinner.

A depression developed between the UK and Norway yesterday that is beginning to sink southwards which will result in the wind backing from the north, as yesterday, into the west today. The barometric pressure has fallen away as the anticyclone left the area and the depression arrived so that the reading at 08.00 was 1008.3mb, the lowest pressure since 19th January.

A maximum of 4.4C on Saturday was a significant 6.2C below the average making it the coldest day since 28th January. Again there was minimal variation between day and night temperatures due to the thick cloud cover with a minimum of 1.6C being 0.8C below the average.

The northeasterly breeze continued on Saturday, gusting to a peak of 15mph producing a modest wind chill. This airstream has been relatively dry for the past three days with the humidity at 08.00 reducing to a low of 81% at 08.00, not occurring since 15th August.

The gloomy conditions continued on Sunday with again low, thick cloud. The breeze has more of a northerly component today as the high pressure slips southwards. The barometric pressure at 08.00, although still relatively high, read 1023.4mb at 08.00, the lowest since 25th February.