Category: Commentary

Sunday brought 7.8 hours of warm sunshine that saw the thermometer rise to 12.2C, which was 4.5C above the 37-year average. However, the wind having veered further into the east and picked up speed with a maximum gust of 18mph, meant it felt a little chilly out of the sun.

Cloud drifted in from the North Sea overnight that meant a frost free night with a minimum of 2.3C. However, the low cloud meant a foggy start to Monday with visibility initially restricted to 1,000m.

The high-pressure has been easing away and lost 10mb of pressure with a current reading at 08.00 of 1032mb so the weather is on the change.

The intense anticyclone still over the UK produced another calm day on Saturday with very little breeze that on just one occasion peaked at 9mph. This was the second consecutive day with a maximum gust of 9mph, the lowest the lowest since 9th January (7mph). The sunshine on Saturday was slightly down on the Friday total with 7.1 hours. The breeze, such as it was, had veered into the east-northeast. The thermometer showed a maximum of 11.8C again being 4.1C above the average.

The past night was slightly less cold than the two previous nights with a minimum of -1.0 that occurred briefly an hour before dawn, which was 2.5C below the 37-year average. By 08.00 on Sunday, under the influence of continuous sunshine, the thermometer read 0.6C.

The centre of the anticyclone has edged eastwards to be over The Wash with a pressure of 1038.5mb at 08.00.

With the intense high pressure overhead on Friday it was not surprising that we had a day of sunshine, 7.4 hours, and light winds, a maximum gust of just 9mph. The minimal wind movement was from the west or northwest that meant a slightly cooler day than of late with a maximum of 11.8C. However, this was still 3.1C above the 37-year average.

Thursday into Friday gave us four hours of sub-zero temperatures but the past night produced just over nine hours of sub-zero temperatures as the thermometer dropped below freezing at 22.47 Friday evening.

Saturday dawned with strong sunshine again as the anticyclone is still firmly positioned overhead with the centre now just of the South Wales coast. The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 10.42.3mb, which is the highest pressure since 21st January 2020 and should provide another sunny and calm day. At 08.00 the temperature had risen to -0.8 and by 08.15 was above freezing. The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm continues to fall with a reading this morning of 1.2C, the lowest since 14th February.

Thursday saw the sun come out in the afternoon as the anticyclone closed in on the UK. The westerly wind, some times from the northwest, meant a cooler day even though we had 4 hours of sunshine. The air from this direction arrives after crossing the Atlantic rather than North Africa and Iberia as on previous days. The thermometer rose to a maximum of 12.5C at 14.45 being 4.8C above the 37-year average. This peak was 2.3C lower than the Thursday high.

Late afternoon the temperature began to fall away under clear skies and a full moon, dropping to a minimum of -2.5C at 06.48 on Friday. This low was 8C below the previous days minimum.

Friday arrived with continuous sunshine as soon as it rose above the horizon.The centre of the anticyclone is currently centred off the South Devon coast with the pressure at 08.00 on Friday of 1037.7mb, the highest since 5th November. The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has dropped from 9.6C two days ago to 1.7C today.

The sub-tropical southerly air stream on Wednesday saw the thermometer climb to a peak 14.8C on Wednesday at 09.18. This was the warmest February day since 26th February 2019 when a maximum of 18.2C was logged. The temperature began to drift downwards after 13.00 to reach a minimum of 6.5C at 06.18 on Thursday morning.

A cold front passed over the area during the early hours of Thursday that brought the cooler air with minimum rainfall of 0.4mm.

The trailing end of the weather front meant a cloudy start to Thursday although the cloud was quite high and the temperature at 08.00 had recovered to 7.4C.

An intense area of high pressure has been developing over the Continent during the past twenty-four hours that has seen our barometric pressure rise to read 1026mb at 08.00 Thursday with the prospect of drier but cooler weather ahead.