Category: Commentary

No sun, no UV and below average temperature made Tuesday a day to forget. The thermometer struggled to reach 6.0C, being 2C below average.

The one redeeming feature was the lack of wind when for hours at a time the anemometer did not move and a maximum gust of just 7mph for the second consecutive day.

Overnight the sky cleared allowing a brief ground frost to form in the early hours with a minimum of 0.3C at 08.00 on Wednesday morning With a clear sky there is the possibility of sunshine, when it rises above the horizon. Fortunately, although some mist is evident at dawn no thick fog has yet formed.

Monday was not only memorable for its total cloud cover blocking out any possibility of sunshine but also no UV light triggered the sensor.

It was a very calm day. The anemometer, for long periods of time, was stationary with the maximum gust registering just 7mph. The movement of the air mass started from the southwest, slowly backed into the south for the largest part of the day and then into the south east.

In the evening and overnight further rain fell amounting to 6.0mm bringing the monthly total to 71.6mm, which is 79% of the 35year December average.

Tuesday was very dark after dawn with thick cloud low over the Marlboorugh Downs giving foggy conditions limiting visibility to 200 metres.

Sunday brought us the greatest length of sunshine for a week with 2.9 hours but the rains returned in the evening with another 5.9mm. It was another breezy day with wind gusting to 25mph.

Temperatures by day and night were above average with 8.5C (+0.5C) and 4.6C (+2.4C).

Monday arrived with thin high cloud but with the wind having abated.

There were 2.3 hours of sunshine on Saturday but late in the day and overnight the rains returned bringing another 10.2mm that raised the monthly total to 59.7mm.

Temperatures by day and night were just below and just above average respectively with 7.2C (-0.8C) and 3.3C (+1.4C).

Sunday saw broken cloud after dawn whit rain showers not far away.

The brisk wind on Friday, then coming from the west, meant a cool day with a peak of 7.5C, just below average, with 2.8 hours of welcome sunshine after the previous day’s deluge. In the evening another 1.9mm of rain fell.

The cloud overnight meant that no frost occurred, in fact the minimum of 3.6C at 01.23 early Saturday morning was 1.4C above average.

Saturday arrived with a totally cloudy sky and the wind then coming from the south west.