Category: Commentary

The several hours of sunshine on Wednesday lifted the temperature a little higher than the two previous days with a maximum of 4.6C but this was still 2.4C below the average. However, the modest warmth in the sun during the 10.55 hours when the temperature was above freezing, 09.51 – 20.26, melted the light snow cover and the frost in direct line of the sun. The slight shift in the wind direction, from north to north-northwest and northwest contributed to the limited rise in temperature.

After 20.26 the thermometer very slowly began to fall away reaching -1.0C at 22.45 but much further in the early hours with a minimum of -3.1C at 08.00 on Thursday.

Thursday arrived with thin, high cloud to the east masking any sunshine. The barometric pressure has seen a rise of 11mb in the past twenty-four hours with a reading of 1007.7mb at 0800 as the depression moved away.

The intense cold has reached further into the ground as the soil thermometer at a depth of 5cm has dropped to -1.3C from -0.7C yesterday at 08.00.

After the extremely cold night Monday into Tuesday the thermometer struggled to get above freezing on Tuesday reaching a maximum of 1.2C at 13.54, which was 5.8C below the average. The thermometer fell back to zero at 16.10 and reached a minimum of -3.2C at 01.31 early Wednesday, which was 4.5C below the average.

Daylight on Wednesday morning revealed a very light covering of snow from large flakes that fell in the early hours amounting to 0.1mm. The cloud that brought the precipitation lifted the temperature to -1.2C by 08.00.

The soil temperature has continued to fall under the extreme cold with a reading at a 5cm depth of -0.7C at 08.00 that followed a temperature of 0.2C that time on Tuesday.

With a maximum of only 3.8C at 13.25 on Monday and a severe frost overnight with a minimum of -7.2C at 06.34 on Tuesday, winter returned with vengeance. The maximum was 3.2C below average and the minimum a significant 8.5C below the average. It was the coldest night since 17th December (-9.1C).

The wind from the northwest brought the very cold air and gusted to 24mph producing a wind chill outside where it felt at least 3C lower than that registered on the thermometer.

However, it was the first dry day for almost a month, the last dry day occurring on 17th December, just as there was then a similar dramatic change in the local weather.

The soil thermometer at a depth of 5cm has fallen from a peak of 9.7C on the 7th to almost freezing, 0.2C, at 08.00.

Tuesday arrived with variable, thin cloud and the thermometer having risen a degree to read -6.1C at 08.00. Five low pressure systems are circling the UK with the closest running across northern France that gave a pressure reading of 988.9mb at 08.00.

There was a distinct change in our weather on Sunday. It followed a cool night with the thermometer only rising to 6.9C, which was the first maximum below average this month (-0.1C). The wind was brisk and from the west initially bit late afternoon the wind began to back into the northwest.

Another 4.0mm of rainfall took the monthly total to 104.4mm being 117% of the 38-year average.

The overnight minimum was 2.4C, just above average (+1.1C) due to the complete cloud cover but the brisk northwesterly meant wind chill was a factor for the first time thus month. The thermometer read 2.6C at 08.00 but outside it felt more like 0C.

Monday began dull with the hang-back of cloud from the depression that ran along the English Channel overnight. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 986.6mb, the lowest pressure since 23rd November.

After peaking at 11.7C on Saturday at 09.47, which was 4.7C above the average, the cold front passed through and the wind veered into the west and was brisk. After that the temperature began to fall back dropping to a minimum of 2.8C at 03.46 on Sunday. This low was still above average +1.5C.

Light showers produced another 2.5mm of rainfall starting just after 03.20 in the early hours of Sunday. That took the monthly total to 100.4mm being 113% of the 38-year average.

Sunday after first light saw variable cloud and a further shower just after 08.00. The barometric pressure remains low registering 999.5mb at 08.00 due to the proximity of depressions.