Category: Commentary

Sunday brought no sunshine but many hours of rain that amounted to 16.6mm making it the wettest day since 14th November (26.1mm), which brought the monthly total to 43.3mm when the average is 91.8mm. Rainfall was not the only significant feature during the past twenty-four hours as the south to southwest breeze, gusting to 28mph, brought warm air so that the thermometer slowly rose from a cold start to reach 11.4C at 18.49 which was 3.4C above the average. The temperature fell back a little thereafter until a rapid drop of 2C at 01.30 on Monday morning as an intense rain shower arrived with rain falling, for a brief period, at the rate of 120mm/hour. Another intense shower occurred at 04.45.

Monday after dawn saw a cloud bank easing away to the east and light, high broken cloud allowing some brightness. The temperature at 08.00 was 8.3C making it the warmest start to the day at that time since 25th November. The air flow from the southwest continues emanating from the intense low pressure system in the Atlantic to the Northwest of the UK.

Saturday brought us 3.8 hours of sunshine and a dry day. The thermometer was down a degree on the very warm day of Friday with a maximum of 8.9C being 0.9C above average. The westerly breeze was a little stronger than recorded in recent days peaking at 19mph that modified the temperature.

The temperature dropped away steadily overnight reaching a minimum of 0.3C at 02.20 giving a short lived ground frost. However, advance cloud from the approaching warm front saw the thermometer climb back up to reach 5.4C at 08.00 on Sunday. Rain arrived just after 07.00 with 1.0mm by 08.00. A very large and deep depression, with a current reading of 966mb at its centre that covers most of the North Atlantic, is likely to bring more rain and persistent cloud throughout daylight hours. However, as it circulates anticlockwise, it will bring an air mass from a mainly southerly direction that will mean another mild day.

On Friday the thermometer rose well above average (+2.1C) with a maximum of 10.1C at 13.19 before cloud built up again. The sunshine recorder was triggered for just 0.25 minutes and the UV registered 0.5, the first above zero in three days. This was the warmest day in December and warmest since 25th November.

There was a little moisture amounting to 0.3mm in very brief drizzle.

A mild night followed with a minimum of 6.6C at 04.30 on Saturday that was 4.3C above average.

Saturday dawned with a little brightness and very small patches of welcome blue sky after the recent gloomy days. The air is almost still again.

Thursday brought warmer air, after the brief cold spell, on a modest southerly and then south-easterly breeze gusting on one occasion to 16mph. The warmest time was overnight as the warm front brought thicker cloud and rain at 20.30 and in the early morning at 01.45, briefly being quite heavy, with a total of 7.7mm. The maximum of 8.9C at 03.15 on Friday was 0.9C above average, which was the first above average maximum this month.

Friday arrived with thick cloud and again little breeze, the temperature having dropped to 7.9C at 08.00 making it the warmest start to the month at that time.

Although Wednesday started bright the high cloud meant no sunshine and the UV level at 0. The cloud thickened as the morning progressed. The wind, a little more brisk than on recent days gusting to a peak of 18mph, varied between southwest and later in the day from the southeast. The thermometer rose to 5.4C being 2.6C below average. The slightly warmer air in the evening lifted the temperature to 6.6C and was held there for much of the night.

Thursday dawned with thick cloud and a low base that started the day very gloomy making the atmosphere misty but thankfully not low enough to produce fog. The temperature at 08.00 was 6.6C being the warmest start to a day this month at that time.