Category: Commentary

The cold front brought cooler air as it’s name implies and a change in wind direction from southwest to west, also a cooler direction. As a result the thermometer struggled to reach 11.6C on Thursday being 2.5C below the 38-year average. In the morning to was gusting to 35mph.

Clearing skies, after much sunshine during daylight hours, brought a cool night with the thermometer dropping to a minimum of 1.2C. This was also below average for April (-2.5C) that produced a temporary ground frost.

The barometric pressure is beginning to slowly rise as high pressure edges in from the west with a reading of 998.2mb at 08.00 under cloudy skies.

Wednesday brought frequent showers during daylight hours that reinvigorated after midnight producing 11.6mm of rainfall. That made it the wettest day since 16th March (16.4mm) and brought the monthly total to 26.2mm when the average is 57.7mm.

It was a cool day with the southwesterly wind brisk and moderating temperatures so that the maximum of 12.7C was 1.4C below the average.

The past night was mild, due to the cloud cover, with a minimum of 6.4C being 2.7C above the average.

Thursday dawned with broken cloud and intermittent sunshine as the wind veered a few degrees into the west and strengthened with a peak gust of 30mph at 06.37.

The barometric pressure fell to its lowest for almost a month with a low of 985.3mb at 05.45 Thursday, now beginning to rise again.

The thermometer only rose to 12.9C (1.2C below average) on Tuesday thanks to minimal sunshine and a blustery westerly breeze. The rainfall for the past twenty-four hours was just 0.4mm. As a cold front crosses the area this morning there are likely to be further rain showers.

Due to cloud cover it has been a mild night with the thermometer not dropping below 8.7C being 5C above the 38-year average.

The barometric pressure has been falling for the past four days and reached a low of 999.7mb at 08.00 on Wednesday, the lowest for almost a month.

Wednesday dawned under leaden skies and intermittent light rain with the wind having backed into the southwest.

Although the thermometer rose 4C above previous days the maximum of 13.9C was still 0.2C below the average. Another 0.5mm of rain was recorded before the shower activity ceased mid-morning. The mainly cloudy day meant that the UV level dropped back into the ‘Low’ category.

The wind backed into the west late on Sunday and continued from that direction on Monday with a peak gust of 18mph.

Cloud cover overnight meant a mild night, some 13C above the hard frost on Sunday, with a low of 8.6C at 05.15 on Tuesday.

Tuesday dawned dull with total cloud cover but there brief signs of brightness.

The barometric pressure is at its lowest this month with a reading of 1011.1mb at 08.00 on Tuesday.

After a sunny morning the cloud began to build in the afternoon as a depression approached from the west. The thermometer rose a little higher than recently to a maximum of 9.9C but this was still a significant 4.2C below average due to the previous night being the coldest April since 1996 and reduced afternoon sunshine.

Overnight the thermometer did not sink below 4.7C (+1.0C) due to the arrival of a weather front with its associated thick cloud and rain that by 08.00 amounted to 1.8mm.