Category: Commentary

After the cold air that pervaded over previous days the wind backed into the south west predominantly on Tuesday that allowed slightly warmer air to cross the area. The thermometer rose to a maximum of 5.4C, still 2.6C below average but several degrees higher than on the two precious cold days.

The sunshine recorder logged 2.1 hours of sunshine and the UV meter rose to 0.6. There was little wind for much of the day as between 03.00 – 12.00 also 15.00- 18.30 the anemometer was totally stationery with one slightly higher speed of just 7mph.

The barometric pressure has been very slowly rising over the past two days and Wednesday will see a very short lived modest ridge of high pressure cover the area.

Wednesday after dawn saw a cloud bank easing away to the east followed by areas of cloudless sky. We might be fortunate to get a little sunshine in the morning before the evidence of another weather front, moving in from the Atlantic later today, manifests itself.

Monday brought the coldest day since 1st February 2019 when the thermometer did not rise above freezing until just after 11.00 and then struggled to reach a peak of just 1.8C being 6.2C below average. There was very little movement of air from the northeast, the anemometer barely turning and quite still for some minutes with a peak gust of just 6mph. The minimal air movement did not stir up the atmosphere so the fog, with varying degrees of visibility, hung around all through daylight hours.

A very cold night followed with the thermometer falling to freezing point at 17.58 and continuing downwards to reach a minimum of -2.9C at 03.00 on Tuesday morning.

Thankfully, at dawn on Tuesday, the persistent fog of recent days had dispersed and we were left with areas of blue sky between broken cloud with evidence of welcome weak sunshine by 08.30.

The pool of cold air and the northerly breeze meant a cold day on Sunday so that the thermometer struggled to reach 4.2C. This was 3.8C below average and the coldest day since 2nd February 2019 (2.9C). The other notable feature was the lack of wind with a peak gust of just 9mph but for much of the day the anemometer was still or just very slowly turning.

No sunshine was logged under the thick cloud however it was a dry day.

Overnight the thermometer fell away to a minimum of -1.6C at 03.07 on Monday morning, which was 3.9C below average.

Monday after dawn revealed another dark and gloomy start to the day with low cloud producing fog that limited visibility to 200m. We are still under the large area of low pressure that has been with us for several days. This means that the isobars are far apart producing a slack pressure gradient with very little variation in pressure although 3mb down on Sunday at 08.00 with a reading of 999.1mb. Currently we are between two centres of low pressure one in the southern North Sea and the other in the Bay of Biscay. There will be a subtle change in the movement of air from north to northeast as the centres relocate.

Although we had a little brightness on Saturday the brisk northeasterly breeze, gusting at its peak to 21mph, produced a wind chill so that it felt at least 1C cooler than the recorded maximum of 6.8C. This peak was 1.2C below average but the minimum of 0.8C, looked at 01.41 on Sunday morning, was 1.5C below average.

Sunday arrived with the gloomy weather reappearing as low cloud meant fog limited visibility to 500m. The wind is a little lighter than on Saturday but still from the chilly northeasterly direction. Unfortunately we are currently on the north side of the jet stream thus the cooler weather will continue for a day or two. The slack pressure gradient producing light winds will persist as long as the current low pressure sits over or near the country, which has been the situation for the past few days.

The thermometer struggled to even reach 5.5C on Friday being 2.5C below average then falling back to 2.8C in the afternoon. The wind started the day from the west but backed into the south and south-southeast late afternoon and evening.

A weather front crossed the area after midnight that produced 10.0mm of rain, which started at 01.35 and lasted for over three hours bringing the monthly total to 17.6mm when the average is 91.8mm

Saturday arrived with a very red sky from a narrow band over the eastern horizon and full of foreboding for the coming day. There was a little brightness at first but the cloud cover was soon complete with the wind coming from the east-southeast.

The depression that has been with us for three days had its centre around the Midlands overnight but. will migrate southwards towards the English Chanel so the wind will continue to back into the east and northeast so another cool day is in prospect.