Category: Commentary

The air movement on Friday was from the southwest and west, a mild, moist air stream. As a result, the daytime maximum of 8.7C, after the sever frost, was 0.7C above the average whilst due to thick cloud cover, the minimum of 6.3C at 01.09 early Saturday was also above average (+4.7C). The was the first frost free night for a week.

Friday was another dry day and the UV level of 1.8, still classed as ‘Low’, was the strongest since 25th October.

Saturday dawned dull and gloomy due to the thick cloud cover with the thermometer having recovered to 7.4C.

The sun arrived after midday on Thursday that helped the thermometer rise to 9.5C being 1.5C above the 39-year average. Another dry day under the extensive high pressure.

Early evening the temperature began to fall steadily passing 0C at 21.15 and reaching a minimum of -4.5C at 05.27 on Friday.

Friday brought sunshine after the sun got up. However, it will become slowly cloudier as the morning wears on as a warm front passes over the area from the northwest. At the same time the high pressure is slowly sinking south that will mean change in wind direction. The air movement will come from the southwest or west-southwest bringing slightly warmer air and probably no overnight frost tonight also due to cloud cover.

The quiet conditions continued on Wednesday with the freezing fog clearing by 09.45, followed by many hours of sunshine. After the coldest night this month, and a slow start after the fog had cleared, the thermometer eventually rose to 7.7C at 13.38, being just 0.3C below the average.

It was another dry day, the thirteenth consecutive dry day with the UV level slightly lower than on Tuesday with a value of 1.2, still classed as ‘Low’.

During the evening the thermometer hovered around 2C for many hours, but just after midnight began to slowly fall reaching a minimum of -0.4C at 03.24 in the early hours of Thursday, producing a ground frost and very brief air frost.

After 03.30 the advance cloud from a ‘cold’ weather front stopped the temperature falling further, reversed it, so that buy 08.00 the thermometer read 4.1C, which was the first morning at that time being above freezing since the 5th.

The past three days has seen a very quiet air movement from a southerly quadrant. As the anticyclone begins to diminish and move away the breeze on Thursday will come from the northwest. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1032.3mb, still high, but down 15mb since its peak on Sunday.

Thursday began with no sunshine but thick, low cloud from the weather front passing over the area. There was a little moisture in the air, not even amounting to drizzle.

The migration to a more appropriate platform should see the website quicker to respond since the change Tuesday with the hoped for updates on the graphs and associated data being installed by my IT technician soon, beyond my scope.

The many hours of glorious sunshine on Tuesday lifted the maximum temperature above the 39-year average (+1.4C) with a peak of 9.4C at 14.48. As on previous nights, under clear skies, the temperature began to fall late afternoon to reach a minimum of -5.8C in the early hours of Wednesday at 03.42. The low of -5.8C was a significant 7.4C below the average and was the coldest night since 25th January (-7.7C).

It was the twelfth consecutive dry day and a UV value of 1.4, classed as ‘Low’ not surprising in early February but the highest since 30th October, so the sun is gaining in strength!

After 00.35 the thermometer began to edge upwards to reach -4.3C at 08.00 on Wednesday due to fog forming that at dawn limited the downward temperature trend and visibility to 150m at that time.

The dry, sunny days with minimal air movement are due to the influence of the intense high pressure system, still reaching from mid-Atlantic to Russia, but the signs are that it is beginning to retreat with a small drop in pressure, a reading of 1-37.1mb at 08.00, down 10mb since its peak on Sunday.

The air movement over the last two days, not strong enough to call a breeze or a wind, with peak movement of 9mph and 7mph respectively, have been from the south or southeast.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has dropped to 0.2C at 0800, the lowest since 26th January.

Thankfully the website is now back up and running after it has been migrated to another platform and various other updates being installed in the next day or two. Hopefully, later this week, my IT man will install the latest wpDatatables section for the graphs when I will be able to access them to update the data. I am advised that now the site should load much quicker than previously.

The many hours of sunshine on Monday lifted the temperature to 9.8C being 1.9C above the average. However,the clear skies meant a cool evening and very cold night as the thermometer sank to -5.4C at 07.41 on Tuesday being 7.2C below the average and the coldest night since 25th January.

Under the very high barometric pressure it was not surprising to have a dry, sunny day with the UV of 1.4 the highest since 30th October but classed as ‘Low’.

Tuesday arrived with clear skies that produced the intense cold but a fog bank could be seen to the north, edging in from the Thames Valley. This closed in on Marlborough by 07.45, but not totally. Half an hour later it had retreated to whence it came, as the sun began to climb and shine strongly.

The area of high pressure currently extends from mid-Atlantic to Russia that continues to bring dry and still conditions. Yesterday the maximum air movement, cannot call it a wind gust, was just 9mph.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has fallen to 0.7C at 08.00 from 7.0C on the third as the intense cold seeps back into the ground.