Category: Commentary

The maximum of 5.3C on Tuesday was still 1.7C below average although it was the warmest day since the 20th. The many hours of sunshine saw the UV level rise a fraction again to 0.9, not seen since 18th November.

During the evening the temperature began to slowly fall away reaching a minimum of -5.5C at 00.41 early on Wednesday. The temperature fall then began to reverse and climb to reach -1.3C at 08.00 on Wednesday.

Wednesday dawned grey with fog initially limiting visibility to 400m but varying.

The high pressure is beginning to relinquish its hold with a consequent fall in pressure. As a result, the air movement that has been coming from the northeast or east has also made an about turn and will come from the southwest or west later this morning.

Even in the sunshine on Monday the thermometer struggled to each 3.8C, being 3.2C below average. However, the last night was the coldest this month with a minimum of -8.0C at 07.34 on Tuesday, which was 9.3C below the 38-year average and the coldest night since 17th December (-9.1C).

The intense cold has seeped further into the ground with the soil thermometer at a depth of 5cm reading -4.6C at 08.00. That was the lowest temperature at that depth since the instrument was installed in 2013, the previous low being -3.3C on January 21st 2017.

Tuesday arrived with mainly clear skies and sunshine after the sun rose, but muted with thin cloud on the eastern horizon.

The barometric pressure has contoured to rise with a pressure reading of 1040.8mb at 08.00 from the extensive ridge that extends as Far East as Russia. It is the highest pressure since 15th march 2022 (1043.7mb).

Sunday was another cold day, the coldest since the 17th, with a maximum of just 2.1C. This was 4.9C below the 38-year average and due to less sunshine than previous days and the previous extremely cold night.

The overnight minimum of -5.9C occurred at 08.13 on Monday being 7.2C below the average.

The ridge of high pressure, reaching from almost Siberia, has intensified further with a reading of 1038.4mb at 08.00. I had to go way back through the records to find a higher barometric pressure, which occurred on March 19th 2022. The ridge has meant almost no air movement during the past four days, Sunday was no exception, with an air movement maximum of just 2mph and from the Southeast.

Monday arrived with almost clear skies, some thin, wispy cloud again, with sunshine as soon as the sun rose above the horizon.

The thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of 4.1C on Saturday, due to the thick fog that only began to thin after 10.15 and not clear until just before 11.30. The thermometer rose above zero at 11.16 and reached a maximum of 4.1C at 13.54, which was 2.9C below the average, and then began to fall slowly until late afternoon. By 16.15 the thermometer read zero, followed by -1.0C at 16.50, -2.0C at 17.35, -3.0C at 18.28, -4.0C at 19.38 and -5.0C at 21.00. Thereafter the temperature slowly continued dropping to reach a minimum of -6.8C at 08.00 on Sunday.

The UV level rose a fraction again with a reading of 0.8, the highest since 20th November. The anemometer just occasionally was stirred to move, but very slowly wit a maximum speed pf just 7mph, with the air movement from the east, not seen from this quadrant since the beginning of December.

Sunday dawned mostly clear, some minimal areas of wispy, thin cloud. The ridge of high pressure continued to build during the past twenty-four hours with a pressure of 1036.4mb at 08.00, which was the highest barometric pressure since 19th March.

Friday brought evidence that the sun is getting stronger as the UV level peaked at 0.7, the highest since 3rd December. In addition, during the many hours of sunshine, the global sunshine total of 4.8 (100W/m2) was the highest since 17th November. This instrument registers at that setting in sun and thin cloud.

The maximum of 5.7C on Friday at 14.10 was the highest for five days but still 1.3C below the average. The thermometer reached zero in the evening at 19.35 before rising for just over an hour to +1.5C due to bands of cloud drifting across from the east. After that time the thermometer fell steadily downwards to reach a minimum of -3.3C at 05.51 on Saturday, which was 4.6C below the 38-year average.

The minimal air movement over the past two days has also been a feature with peak gusts of 8mph and 11mph respectively.

Saturday dawned with thick fog with visibility restricted to 150m. The ridge of high pressure has intensified again with a barometric pressure of 1033.2mb at 08.00, which was the highest since 8th July.