Category: Commentary

The past twenty-four hours of Thursday saw over eleven hours of rainfall amounting to exactly 20.0mm of precipitation that brought the month total to 47.6mm, which is 52% of the monthly average.

The wind for the majority of the day came front the south before early afternoon veering into the west. As a consequence of the warmer air the thermometer rose to a maximum of 8.6C early in the day at 11.44, which was 0.6C above the 35-year average.

In addition to the excessive rainfall, winds were a feature, particularly in the early hours of Friday, gusting to 26mph as the depression began to fill. The barometer had been falling for over twenty-four hours reaching a low of 971.9mb at 00.19 on Friday morning before rising rapidly. This was the lowest barometric pressure reading since 10th December 2017.

With just a glimpse of sun on Wednesday. but mainly cloudy with heavy rain showers. it was not surprising to find the maximum 6.0C was 2C below the average. With the sky again clearing towards evening a brief ground frost set in with a minimum of 0.4C at 00.19 early Thursday morning. However, with cloud once again encroaching from the west the temperature then began to recover so that by 08.00 on Thursday the thermometer read 4.2C

Thursday dawned very dark and wet as the rain began to intensify from the next weather front.

Tuesday was a gloomy, wet day although it was mild with the thermometer rising to a maximum of 11.8C, almost 4C above average, in the early evening at 18.21. However, at that time a squall line passed over the area bringing intense rain and strong winds. Within a few minutes the wind began to veer from the south into the west and the temperature to drop continuously so that by 23.00 there was a fall of 6C.

It was windy all day with a peak gust of 39mph at 16.18.

Rainfall for the past twenty-four hours amounted to 8.9mm bringing the monthly total to 26.2mm.

With relatively clear sky overnight the thermometer continued to fall registering 2.4C at 08.00 on Wednesday morning and the sun began to shine as it rise above the horizon.

Our yo-yo weather continues with alternate days of dry then wet and windy weather. Monday brought us 5.1 hours of sunshine and a dry day under the influence of a temporary ridge of high pressure that lifted the temperature just above average with a peak of 8.1C.

The sky was initially clear overnight allowing a brief air frost to form with the thermometer falling away to -0.6C at 01.03 early on Tuesday morning. Then cloud began to filter in from the next advancing weather front.

At 08.06 on Tuesday the rain began to fall again with the wind having begun to rise after 02.15 as the barometric pressure fell lower again with the thermometer reading 7.4C.

The effects of Storm Atiyah were felt again on Sunday giving us another stormy day with winds frequently gusting over 20mph and a peak gust of 37mph at 04.43 Monday morning. The worst of the storm was to the west and south of us with the Meteorological Office changing there warning on Saturday, removing our area, as the depression moved across the north of Ireland. The Needles recorded winds in excess of 80mph.

Temperatures by day and night were mild, both maximum 9.3C (+2.0C)and minimum 5.0C (+2.8C) were above average.

Several rain storms produced a total of 5.1mm bringing the monthly total to 17.3mm.

Monday brought a bright start to the day with broken cloud and the wind moderating.