Category: Commentary

The mild, moist air continued on Thursday that saw the thermometer rise to a maximum of 11.7C, which was 4.6C above the average and the warmest day since 23rd December.

Another mild night followed with the minimum of 7.2C occurring on Friday morning at 07.19.

Steady rain began to fall at 20.15 on Thursday evening with a more intense rain band just before 23.00.The daily rainfall total was 11.2mm that brought the monthly total to 88.5mm, which is just 2mm below the 37-year average.

Friday saw low, thick cloud and rain falling after dawn as another rain band arrived from the west.

Wednesday saw the thermometer climb to 8.4C just before midnight, then drop away a degree before rising again during the early hours of Thursday to reach a maximum of 10.9C at 07.15 on Thursday morning. This was 4C above the 37-year average fr average maximum temperatures but 9.5C above the average minimum. It was the warmest day since 23rd December.

Drizzly rain persisted throughout most of the daylight hours on Wednesday but a wide rain band arrived late evening with heavy rain for several hours amounting to 18.7mm. This was the wettest twenty-four hours since 14th November and brought the monthly total to 77.2mm being 13mm below the 37-year January average.

Thursday brought thick low cloud after dawn with gusty winds from the south west.

The mild, moist air, predominantly from the south on Tuesday, saw the thermometer rise to 6.8C during the daytime and early evening and peak at 7.8C at 23.52, which was 0.6C above the 37-year average.

Snow cover remained for much of the day but slowly thawed.

Rain showers during darkness amounted to 2.6mm bringing the monthly total to 58.7mm, which is 68% of the long-term average.

The warmth continued overnight with a reading of 7.6C at 08.00 on Wednesday under low cloud that initially limited visibility to 500m, but thinned by 08.30. The air movement after dawn was static with the anemometer above roof height motionless. The snow cover has now completely disappeared.

Under the transient ridge of high pressure on Monday we enjoyed 5.4 hours of glorious sunshine. As a result of the sunshine and the wind having backed onto the west, the thermometer rose to a maximum of 5.1C at 13.21 before beginning to fall back. There was a slight thaw of lying snow but snow was still widespread on the ground all day and into the night. By 18.41 the thermometer showed the air had dropped to freezing again at (-0.1C) 18.41 and continued its downward movement until reaching a minimum of -2.2C at 23.02.

The temperature began to recover after midnight as approaching cloud from yet anther weather front drifted in from the west. There were a few spots of rain at 07.40 with light rain beginning fall at 08.50.

The thermometer reading at 08.00 on Tuesday was 0.3C in still conditions.

The flow of cold air from near Iceland and the Arctic meant a cold day following the snowfall that only partially melted leaving snow cover all day and following night. The depth of the level snow was 5cm, with no drifting due to the calm conditions, and measured 5.2mm of precipitation when slowly melted.

The maximum of just 3.2C was recorded at 11.45 in brief sunshine of 0.7 hours, which was 3.9C below the 37-year average.

During the afternoon the thermometer dropped away to just below freezing all evening until around midnight when the sky cleared, flowing a few flakes of snow, to register a minimum of -4.3C at 07.20 on Monday. The UV level eased upwards again, just a little, with a peak of 0.9 not reached since 21st November. Both maximum and minimum were a degree down on the Saturday extremes.

Monday morning brought clear blue sky and bright sunshine as soon as the sun got above the horizon. A brief ridge of high pressure has been easing in over the past 15 hours with the highest pressure since the 18th with a current reading at 08.00 of 1009.7mb.