Category: Commentary

Friday saw the rain arrive just before 09.00 with light spots but mid-morning the real rain set in for much of the day with another pulse in the early hours of Saturday amounting to 9.3mm. That daily total brought the monthly total to 21.9mm when the average is 59.2mm.

Due to the cloud and rain, even though the warmer southerly breeze continued, the maximum temperature was depressed with a peak of 10.0C, which was 0.5C below the average. The overnight minimum of 5.6C occurred at 05.38 on Saturday, which was 3.2C above the 38-year average.

Saturday brought glimpses of sunshine after dawn as cloud eased away to the east with the southerly breeze still flowing.

Thursday saw the thermometer rise to 12.1C, the warmest day this month and 1.6C above the average. Likewise overnight, thanks to cloud cover from an approaching weather front, the thermometer did not sink below 8.1C being 5.8C above the 38-year average.

It was another day with the southerly air flow producing a warmer air current and a maximum gust of 21mph, the lowest for a week.

Friday dawned with total cloud cover as the next weather front had crossed the south coast. It associated rain band was just 30 miles south of this area at 08.00 and due to arrive within the hour.

With the wind continuing to come from the south on Wednesday, with mostly cloudy conditions, it was not surprising to find that both the maximum of 11.9C and minimum overnight of 9.2C were above average with (+1.4C) and (+7.0C) respectively. It was the warmest day since 16th February and the warmest night since 31st December.

The diurnal range of temperature, the variation between day and night, was just 2.7C.

It was another dry with the equivalent loss of rainfall, through evaporation from ground sources and plant life, exceeding 1mm per day.

Thursday initially saw a couple of brief bright periods but the day started with cloudy conditions as a weather front approached from the west. The wind, still from the south, is forecast to veer a few more degrees into the south-southeast as the day progresses.

Thanks to the change in wind direction as the morning progressed, from the south, the thermometer eventually rose above average (+0.7C) with a maximum of 11.2C. It was the warmest day since 22nd February.

The southerly air flow and cloud overnight meant a mild night with the thermometer not sinking below 7.4C at 03.16 on Wednesday.

Wednesday brought broken cloud and brief sunny intervals in the early morning. The southerly breeze continues and likely to edge nearer to east-southeast as the day progresses due to the depression in the Eastern Atlantic forecast to move eastwards to be off the Brittany coast after midday.

Although the maximum of 7.9C on Monday was higher than the two previous days it was still 2.6C below the average due to the brisk wind from the east. Th maximum gust of wind was 23mph and during the day produced a wind chill again so that it felt at least 1C cooler outside than the thermometer indicated.

It was a dry day with the UV level rising to a peak of 2.5, still classed as ‘Low” but the highest since 15th October.

A minimum of -1.0C was recorded at 06.20 on Monday morning that produced an air frost again but by 08.00 the thermometer had risen to 1.4C due to sunshine shortly after the sun had risen above the horizon.

The barometric pressure has continued to fall loosing another 14mb during the past twenty-four hours so a change in the weather pattern is indicated. The pressure at 08.00 was 10128mb, some 18mb below the peak on Sunday.

The temperature of the soil at a depth of 5cm has been falling due to the frosty nights with a reading of 0.9C at 08.00, the lowest since 22nd January after the mild February.