Category: Commentary

The cool northerly breeze on Friday was much stronger gusting to 23mph that meant a cooler day with the maximum of 16.7C being 2.2C below the average. However, with clear skies overnight the temperature plummeted to reach a low of 1.5C at 05.03 our Saturday morning. Early risers would have noticed that the grass was white at dawn as the temperature was low enough to produce a ground frost.

The sun shone strongly as soon as it rose above the horizon and lifted the temperature to 4.4C at 08.00. The high pressure has sunk southwards, just off the southern coast of Ireland, so closer to southern England and as a result the fine weather will continue with lighter winds but still from the northerly quadrant. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1024.4mb being the highest this month.

The ground temperature has also fallen away, not surprisingly, with a temperature of 7.1C at 08.00 and at a depth of 5cm, the lowest since 30th April (5.1C).

For the first time this month both the maximum of 17.5C and the minimum of 7.1C were below average with -1.4C and -2.3C respectively. The low occurred at 01.18 early Friday and thereafter rose a little.

It was the eighth dry day this month with the UV level just rising into the ‘High’ category.

Clearing skies gave us the very cool night but by 08.00 the sun had been shining quite strongly shortly since dawn and lifted the thermometer to 9.2C.

The low pressure to the east over Finland and the high just off the northwest coast of Scotland will continue to bring a stream of cool air from the north or northnorth-west. The high has edged closer with a reading of 1018.2mb at 08.00, up 5mb since this time on Thursday.

The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm read 10.0C at 08.00. This was the lowest ground temperature at that depth and time since 30th April (7.1C).

After the very wet and cool day on Tuesday, the sun returned on Wednesday, mainly after mid-day, that produced a warm and pleasant afternoon that saw the thermometer rise to 20.6C, which was 1.7C above at the average. The wind was from the northeast, predominantly, and lighter than previous days.

The change in wind direction is due to the depression having migrated eastwards to Scandinavia, and circulating anticlockwise, brings the wind from a northerly quadrant.

It was a dry day with the UV level of 4.6 at the top end of ‘Moderate’.

The overnight minimum of 10.5C was 1.2C above the average due to persistent cloud cover that minimised loss of warmth into the atmosphere.

Thursday dawned dull and cloudy with no sunshine at 08.00. The wind has backed a few degrees from Wednesday and is now lighter and from the north-northwest or northwest. The barometric pressure has begin to recover with a reading of 1013.0mb at 08.00.

Tuesday was a miserable, damp and cool day. The first few drops of rain began just before 10.30 and then persisted all day and well into the evening, when briefly it became heavier. There were a couple of hours after 01.00 this morning when there was slightly drier period before more light rain fell after 03.00. The total rainfall off 6.4mm was modest that brought the monthly total to 42.1mm when the monthly average is 66.9mm.

Due to the low cloud and rain, also the wind coming from the northeast, it was a very cool day compared to recent above average maxima days. The thermometer edged up just 2C during the daytime to a maximum of just 16.0C. This was a whole 10C bleep the Monday peak and 2.9C below the average making it the coolest day since 5th June (14.0C).

The diurnal range of temperatures, the difference between day and night, was only 2.5C. The minimum was 13.5C, which was 4.2C above average.

Wednesday dawned gloomy due to the hang-back of thick cloud from the depression in the English Channel.

Monday gave us a very warm day, due to the southerly breeze, that lifted the thermometer to 25.8C. This high was a significant 6.8C above the average and the warmest day since 27th August (26.3C). The strong sunshine also meant the UV edged higher with a value of 5.1, the highest since the end of August and in the ‘High’ category.

The past night was also mild with the low 4.5C above the average dropping to 13.8C just before 07.30 on Tuesday.

The new day arrived with grey skies and the wind having veered into the north late on Monday. With three consecutive dry days the humidity level has begun to fall with a value of 88% at 08.00, the lowest since 29th August. Whilst the humidity level has dropped the loss of equivalent rainfall, due to evaporation from the ground and plant life, has increased again, recently to over 2mm per day.