Category: Commentary

A maximum of 0.6C on Tuesday was the warmest day in three days but still a very chilly 8C below the average and the third coldest day this month. The wind backed a few degrees to come from the Northeast and picked up a little, after the previous calm days, with a maximum gust of 14mph.

The past night was again very cold due to the Arctic air with the thermometer sinking to -4.0C at 06.45 on Wednesday.

Dawn on Wednesday revealed a less cloudy sky with the cloud much higher and thinner. The barometric pressure was at its lowest this month yesterday with a minimum reading of 1004.8mb, the lowest since 24th November.

The thick, low cloud persisted all day and the cold Artic airmass meant another even colder day as the thermometer refused to rise above freezing with a maximum of only -0.7C. Any air movement was from the east with a peak movement of just 9mph. During the evening the temperature eased upwards to -0.3C then fell back again after midnight to reach a ow of -2.2C.

Tuesday after dawn revealed a higher cloud base also thinner than previous dull days. The breeze is evident this morning after very calm mornings and from the northeast.

The thermometer did not get above freezing at any time on Sunday with a maximum of -0.1C at 13.33, which was 8.1C below the average and the coldest day since 2nd February 2021 (-0.2C).

Very light snow was observed beginning to fall at 11.45 and became a little heavier until around 13.00 producing a light covering. The east December when snow was recorded was in 2020 on the 2nd. The snowiest December was in 2010 when snow fell on four days and stayed on the ground for eleven days.

The air movement was totally calm for many hours with a maximum movement of just 8mph, from the east.

The thermometer hovered around -1.0C for much of the evening until after midnight when it began to fall away further to a minimum of -4.7C at 08.00.

Monday arrived dull, grey and cold, with total cloud cover, which was very low producing misty conditions again.

We are still suffering from the Arctic Maritime airmass brought to us thanks to a low pressure system over Scandinavia, rotating anticlockwise. This depression is also blocking any movement from the west in germs of warmer weather fronts.

The air movement on Saturday changed from north to southwest during daylight hours as the depressions and high over Greenland repositioned. However, although the southwesterly breeze is usually warmer the air mass was still Arctic air that limited the temperature rise to 3.6C, although a degree up on the previous two days it was still 4.5C below average.

The minimum of -5.8C that occurred overnight at 01.12 Sunday was 8.3C below the average. Evidence at frost light would indicate that fog or mist occurred during darkness asters are coated with frozen moisture.

Sunday did not see the sun after dawn as on previous days as we woke to total cloud cover. The temperature had risen a degree to reach -4.7C at 08.00. The barometric pressure has been falling for the past five days and at 08.00 read 1008.5mb, the lowest since the end of November.

The Arctic airmass meant another very cold day on Friday with a maximum of just 2.7C being 5.4C below the average and the coldest day since 13th February. The high was recorded at 13.23 when the thermometer did an about turn and started to drop again registering a minimum of -5.8C at 04.38 on Saturday. That low was 8.3C below the average.

After the wet November we have now had twelve successive dry days.

Saturday arrived with clear skies and a temperature of -4.5C at 08.00.

The soil thermometer at a depth of 5cm read -1.2C at 08.00.