Category: Commentary

Friday brought us 5.9 hours of welcome sunshine, the sunniest day since 4th November. However, the wind then from the east had increased in strength and produced a significant wind chill. The thermometer struggled to get above freezing for a brief period with a maximum of only 1.7C being 6C below the 37-year average and the wind chill making it feel more like -4C. The UV strength rose a title higher with a reading of 1.3 but still rated as low.

The thermometer overnight saw a steady fall to reach a minimum of -4.4C at 07.15 on Saturday morning with the wind chill reading of -7.1C.

Saturday initially brought thin, high cloud and some weak sunshine. The barometric pressure is currently at its highest since 15th January with a peak reading of 1032.2mb at 08.00. This is due to an intense anticyclone stretching from Scandinavia to Denmark that has today changed the wind direction as it has veered further and now from the south east. The cold has reached further into the ground with my 5cm deep thermometer reading -2.7C at 08.00.

The thermometer was very reluctant to rise above freezing on Thursday reaching a peak of just 0.2C before quickly falling away, down a degree on the Wednesday maximum. The reduced sunshine, as compared to the previous day, didn’t encourage the thermometer to rise further with just 2.9 hours as compared to 4.8 hours on Wednesday. Wind chill was still a significant feature making it feel as low as -4C for much of the day and night.

The minimum overnight was -2.4C being 3.9C below average, two degrees up on the previous minimum.

The wind veered into the east on Thursday and continued from that direction on Friday that brought broken cloud with a little brightness after sunrise. The air from the east is much drier as at 08.00 daily it is usually in the high 90s but the Friday humidity was just 72% at that time.

We enjoyed 4.8 hours of welcome sunshine on Wednesday, that in lighter winds still from the northeast, saw the thermometer crawl above zero for several hours. The maximum temperature of 1.9C was reached at 13.13 being 5.8C below average, before thicker cloud arrived.

There were several very light snow flurries during daylight hours with the UV level of 1.2 the highest since 5th November rated as ‘Low’.

Overnight the thermometer dropped steadily to reach a minimum of -4.6C at 03.56 before rising a degree as thin cloud drifted across and a resultant rise in humidity. This minimum was 6.1C below the 37-year average and the coldest day since 3rd February 2019 when the extremely low temperature of -11.3C was recorded.

Thursday arrived with a mainly cloudy sky and the occasional bright interval, the thermometer having risen to -3.4C at 08.00. The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm dropped further in the past twenty-four hours to read -1.8C at 08.00.

Tuesday was the coldest day since 1st March 2018 (Beast from the East with -2.0C maximum) as the thermometer did not get above freezing all day with a maximum of only -0.2C. The wind from the north east continued strong all day but less brisk, The maximum gusts over the last three days have been 35mph, 29mph and 27mph respectively.

The sunshine was minimal, just 0.5 hours under many cloudy skies, with the UV level reading of 0.9, which is described as ‘Low”. There were frequent snow flurries during daylight hours with a more persistent shower of light dry snow between 1230 and 1340 that melted away under solar radiation, not sunshine, in the afternoon.

The minimum of -2.9C was identical to the previous night being 4.6C below the 37-year February average.

Wednesday, thankfully, arrived with clear skies and sunshine after sunrise. Joint centres of high pressure, one over Scandinavia and the other off the eastern coast of Iceland, continue to feed a north easterly flow of cold air. The barometric pressure at 08.00 was 1013.8mb, the highest since 26th January. The wind has subsided further although the wind chill at 08.00 meant it felt more like -4C outside.

The intense cold has reached further into the ground with a temperature of -1.4C at a depth of 5cm, yesterday was -0.7C.

The cold air from the Ukraine and Black Sea area continued to be blasted across the region on Monday from the north east with the wind often gusting well over 20mph and a maximum gust of 29mph. The thermometer very slowly moved upwards and reached above freezing for just over half an hour with a maximum of only 0.4C at 14.07, which was the coldest day since 1st February 2019 (0.5C). However, much colder days were recorded on 6th and 19th December 2010 when the thermometer did not rise above -2.2C.

The significant feature during the past twenty-four hours has not only been the wind strength but the wind chill factor. Monday began with it feeling outside more like -5C and at the less cold part of the day was still registering -2.5C. Very light snow flurries occurred frequently during daylight hours but not measurable so recorded as a trace. Some areas of thin lying snow melted away in the 1.8 hours of sunshine and later, when the sun disappeared, under the effect of solar radiation.

Overnight the thermometer to -2.9C at 03.45.

At 08.00 on Tuesday the thermometer registered -2.2C and wind chill of-4.2C. By 09.00 the cloud was showing signs of thinning with breaks occurring that allowed brief bright intervals to occur. After a lull in the wind strength in the early hours by 09.00 it had picked up again but not quite as strong as on Monday. The cold is now penetrating deep into the ground with a temperature of -0.7C at a depth of 5cm.