Category: Commentary

With little sunshine, just 1 hour, and a brisk wind from the southwest on Friday it was not surprising that the peak temperature of 13.1C was again below average (-1.5C). There was brief rain around 10.00 that amounted to 0.5mm but the remaining part of the day and night were dry.

During the evening the thermometer fell steadily away to reach a minimum of 5.3C at 00.10 early on Saturday being 1.8C below average. The temperature then began to climb again as cloud built up ahead of the next rain band.

Three depressions on Friday in the North Atlantic have now combined to form a deep low pressure system to the north west of Scotland that produced the thicker cloud and an increasing wind speed from 03.00 on Saturday morning. Light drizzle was observed at 07.45 with a gust of 21mph. By 08.00 the temperature had risen to 10.9C. The barometric pressure is now falling rapidly with a current reading of 1003.5mb whereas the centre of the depression had a reading of 953mb at 08.00. This considerable variation in pressure is producing a steep pressure gradient that will see the wind strength increasing considerably during Saturday. The rain radar shows a wide band of heavy rain approaching the West Country that will reach us in a few hours.

Thursday was dry during daylight hours and the wind, much lighter and from the southwest rather than warmer south, meant the thermometer didn’t quite reach the average maximum rising to a peak of 13.4C being 1.2C below average.

There was a brief shower just before midnight and another heavier shower at 04.30 on Friday that in total amounted to 1.4mm.

The thermometer dropped to 9.4C just before midnight but the increasing cloud cover that brought the rain showers meant the thermometer then rose eagan by as much as 2.5C.

The cloud cover was continuous on Friday morning but at 08.00 was showing signs of thinning as the rain band eased away to the east.

The extensive rain associated with Storm Barbara gave us many hours of rain on Wednesday that amounted to 14.0mm. This brought the monthly total to 149.3mm, which is 63mm above the 36-year average and only 10mm below the all time record set in 2004.

Although the wind direction was variable and light during daylight hours it returned to a southerly in the late afternoon and late evening produced a gust of 23mph. The wind direction in the early morning started from the east and throughout the day slowly backed into the north, then west and finally south during the evening as the centre of the low pressure relocated across the country to the east.

The maximum of 14.2C was 0.4C below average but due to the cloud cover overnight the minimum of 11.0C was 3.9C above average.

Thursday morning saw variable cloud easing away towards the eastern horizon with the sun obscured, but bright.

Thanks to Storm Barbara the flow of southerly air pushed the thermometer to a peak of 16.7C on Tuesday, which was 2C above average and the warmest day since 29th September. The thermometer hovered around 14.7C for much of the evening in very stable conditions but slowly dropped away to give a minimum of 13.6C. This was 6.5C above the 36-year average, the warmest night since 23rd August and only 1C below the average maximum for October.

The day was dry but rain arrived just after 05.00 on Wednesday and produced another 7.9mm by 08.00. This raised the monthly total to 135.3mm being 158% of the 36-year average but still less than the very wet October in 2019 when 153.1m was logged.

The extensive rain band associated with Storm Barbara meant Wednesday morning saw continuous rain from very low, thick cloud and the warmest start to the day at 08.00 for a month.

The low pressure centre will migrate from the south west of Cornwall early today to the east of the UK so the wind will make a 180 degree change in direction, from currently northeast to southwest, as the day progresses but will be mainly light in strength.

The southeasterly wind on Monday lifted the thermometer to fractionally above average, the first after ten consecutive days with below maxima. The peak of 14.6C at 13.48 was reached just before the sunshine of 4.1 hours was reduced as the advance cloud from Storm Barbara began to increase.

Although the air from the Continent was mild, it was brisk with a maximum gust of 24mph, the strongest gust since the 2nd (35mph).

There were a couple of showers overnight, the longest and heaviest just after 01.00, that totalled 2.3mm bringing the monthly total to 127.4mm the the 36-year average is 85.6m. The southeasterly wind veered into the south in the early hours of Tuesday, when a minimum of 11.3C was recorded at 02.30. The thermometer then began to creep a little higher to reach 11.6C at 08.00, a very mild night being 4.7C above average. It was the mildest night since 17th September.

Just before 08.00 on Tuesday the rain ceased and the cloud began to lift just a little as Storm Barbara, with its centre over southern Ireland, eased away to the north. The depression gave us a minimum pressure of 999.3mb at 08.00, the lowest since the 4th (980.5mb).