Category: Commentary

The flow of warm, moist air, referred to as Tropical Maritime, from the south-southwest pushed the thermometer to 20.3C on Thursday being almost 6C above average and the warmest day since 26th September and up 4C on the Wednesday peak. The breeze was light, just 8mph at head height and predominantly from the southwest.

The temperature overnight did not drop below 12.2C at 00.20 being 5C above average and up 5C on the Thursday minimum.

Friday arrived with fog again from low cloud limiting visibility to around 600m and in still wind conditions.

The ridge of high pressure has continued to build with a reading of 1029.8mb at 0800.

The 7.7 hours of gloriously warm sunshine on Wednesday raised the temperature to 16.5C being 2C above the 37-year average and the warmest day for a week. The breeze from the west was much lighter than previous days with a peak gust of 15mph.

Due to the flow of very warm Continental Maritime air the thermometer did not fall below 12.1C overnight, which was 5C above average.

Fog from low cloud arrived in the early hours of Thursday that after dawn limited visibility to 400m.

The barometric pressure at 0800 was 10215.5mb, the highest since 22nd September.

Tuesday was such a treat after so many wet days with 4.7 hours of sunshine and no rain. The wind starting from west, and veering into the northwest late morning, meant a cooler day with the thermometer reaching 14.8C being juts above average (+0.3C).

With the ridge of high pressure building overnight and the sky clearing it was no surprise to find a cool start to Wednesday with the thermometer sinking to 7.4C at 07.33 before rising to 8.0C at 08.00 as the sun got to work.

The almost clear sky and sunshine after sunrise gave a very pleasant start to the day, just the occasional wispy clouds. The anticyclone is centred over the Bay of Biscay and throwing a ridge of high pressure over the UK. The pressure at 08.00 was 1018.9mb, the highest for a week.

Monday was dry with 5.3 hours of sunshine and another day with an above average maximum of 15.9C (+1.4C). However, during the evening cloud began to drift in ahead of the next rain band that saw the thermometer rise from 12.0C at 2130 to 13.1C just before 2300. Rain first began to fall at 2305 and during the next two hours amounted to 10.7mm. This brought the monthly total to 39.2mm being almost half the 37-year average for October during the first four days.

The thermometer began to fall away after 0200 as the cloud thinned and cleared to the east. At dawn the hang back of thick cloud from the weather front culd be seen on the eastern horizon. Just before 0730 the sun rose above the cloud and began to shine strongly triggering the sunshine recorder at 0746.

Sunday saw the thermometer rise to 15.7C in 6.22 hours of sunshine, which was 1.2C above the average. After the sunless day on Saturday with no UV registered the UV level on Sunday was ‘Low’.

The minimum overnight was also above average (+1.4C) due to cloud cover and rain that fell principally between 0200 and 0300 amounting to 5.2mm. This brought the monthly total to 28.5mm.

Monday was initially cloudy but not long after dawn the sun began to break through. After very low barometric pressure on Sunday it has begun to rise with a reading of 1008.0mb at 08.00.