Category: Commentary

Although we were between two deep depressions on Saturday the wind was still strong, gusting to 34mph. The wind was initially from the southwest, backing into the south then west later in the day as Storm Eunice moved eastwards.

Both day and night were mild with a maximum of 9.6C by day (+1.8C), dropping to 7.3C just before midnight, then rising again after 00.30 on Sunday to reach 10.0C at 08.00.

Another 5.8mm of precipitation was recorded that brought the monthly total to 57.4mm, still 10mm below the 38-year average.

Sunday arrived with total cloud cover and the wind beginning to rise again due to another depression arriving from the Atlantic. The low pressure is centred just to the Northwest of Scotland and will produce another stormy day as its centre reads 953mb at 08.00, which is very low.

Update at 18.00: wind has been increasing in strength for the past four hours with a maximum gust of 41mph at 16.48, so far

Update at 19.00: gust of 46mph at 18.22

The full effect of storm Eunice deepened as the morning progressed with the wind frequently gusting between 40 and 50 mph between 09.30 and 15.15 and a peak gust of 56mph at 10.58. We enjoyed 3.1 hours of sunshine in the morning when the UV level rose to 1.3. At its closest, the centre of the depression meant a very low barometric pressure reading of 985.0mb just before 11.00. Not a record low as 969.6mb was recorded on 28th December 2020.

A violent squall was observed starting at 17.00 with a heavy fall of hail that produced a complete covering as the temperature dropped down to 2.9C. The melted precipitation amounted to 1.3mm of rainfall.

The thermometer was depressed because of the strong westerly wind but still 1.3C above the average with a maximum of 9.1C.

With clearing skies initially overnight the thermometer dropped away to 1.7C, just above the February average, in the early hours of Saturday.

Initially, Saturday brought limited sunshine but by 08.15 the cloud had thickened as the next warm front closed in with rain not far away.

Both the maximum and minimum on Thursday were above average with 11.3C (+3.5C) and 6.8C (+5.3C). The low was reached at 0l.30 on Friday before rising again to reach 10.8C at 06.00 and falling back to 9.1C at 08.00 on Friday.

Rainfall for the east twenty-four hours measured 4.2mm bringing the monthly total to 49.5mm, still over 17mm below the 38-year average.

The wind gusted to 38mph at 07.11 on Friday due to Storm Eunice approaching the north of this area. The wind strength has been slowly rising since 00.30 after the direction abruptly changed from west to south just after 21.00 on Thursday. Friday saw the direction change again to southwest and later in the morning will come from the west as the centre of the depression eases away eastward.

The barometric pressure has been falling rapidly to reach 991.6mb at 08.00 and forecast to probably drop to around 988mb later this morning.

Update at 10.55: maximum gust of 56mph at 09.58. Average wind speed still increasing.

Update at 12.15: wind beginning to die down a little with 10 minute average wind speed dropped from 19mph to 10mph

Storm Dudley produced a maximum gust of 43mph at 21.53 on Wednesday evening although it been very strong for most of the late afternoon.

The record maximum gust for this station, set up in 1984, was set in 2007 with a peak gust of 57mph, both in January and March.

The rainfall for the day amounted to 3.4mm that brought the monthly total to 45.3mm, 21mm below the 38-year average.

It was a very mild day with the thermometer rising to a peak of 13.4C. This was 5.6C above the average and the warmest day since 31st December.

The westerly wind dropped away overnight, but still brisk on Thursday morning, which started with variable sunshine through broken cloud. The thermometer read 6.4C at 08.00.

Tuesday was another wet and dull day until early afternoon with no sunshine. The daily rainfall amounted to 5.8mm bringing the monthly total to 41.9mm, 25mm below the 38-year average.

Storm Dudley began to raise the wind strength in the early hours of Wednesday with a peak gust of 35mph at 07.30 and rising.

The temperature was around 8C for most of Tuesday but just after 22.30 the thermometer began to edge higher as milder air arrived with a maximum of 11.4C at 03.47 on Wednesday. The lowest barometric pressure was logged at 04.45 with a low of 995.9mb as Storm Dudley began to cross the UK to the North of this area.

The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm registered 9.0C at 08.00 on Wednesday due to the milder air, the highest since 1st January.

A warm front is due to cross the area early afternoon so the wind is likely to increase in strength accompanied by heavy rain.