A wet morning on Saturday due to being on the western edge of a weather front that slowly drifted northwest. The rain ceased just before noon after depositing 3.4mm. The afternoon saw sunny intervals, 5.8 hours in total, that lifted the thermometer to 20.7C, which was 2C below average.
After a dry and mild night, minimum of 13.2C, there was variable sunshine after dawn that lifted the thermometer to 16.1C at 08.00.
Friday was another very warm day as the heat from the continent slowly ebbed away although there was much residual atmospheric and heat including from the ground, which at 08.00 on Thursday read 20.9C at a depth of 5cm. The maximum reached was 25.2C being 2.5C above average.
Although during daylight hour it was dry a light shower occurred just after 23.00 amounting to 0.3mm. This brought the July total to 31.7mm whereas evaporation accounts for the loss of equivalent rainfall of 93.0mm
Saturday arrived with thick cloud, being very dull, from the weather trough just to the east.
Thursday saw the thermometer steadily climb, at the rate of 2C every hour, in the morning to reach 31.9C at 13.00 but further increase in heat was stopped by a ribbon of cloud moving from south to north that blanketed out much sunshine. There was further sunshine late afternoon that saw the temperature rise a little to a maximum of 32.6C at 16.10, which was almost 10C above average and equalled the maximum on 1st July 2015. The record for July was set on 19th July 2006 with a peak of 35.2C.
My weather station is on the outskirts of Marlborough so it would have been a degree or two warmer in the town where buildings and tarmac absorb more heat than cultivated ground.
A very warm night followed so that the minimum of 17.4C was reached at 05.28 Friday morning. This was 5.8C above average. A cold front passed over the area just after 01.00 bringing cooler air.
Friday arrived with a mainly cloudy sky, only the odd glimpse of sunshine, with spots of rain between 06.30 and 07.00 that were insufficient to measure.
Update on Friday at 16.20: maximum temperature of 25.2C recorded at 12.23 at the end of a longer spell of brief sunshine. This was 2.5C above average but, thankfully, 7.4C below the extreme high of Thursday. The UV level returned to very high with the highest maximum of solar radiation for four days.
The description of a heatwave is when the maximum daily temperature is equal to or above the Heatwave Threshold on three consecutive days. The Heatwave Threshold for Wiltshire is 27C. The thermometer reached a maximum of 32.0C on Tuesday and 29.0C at 13.25 on Wednesday. Therefore, if as predicted, the maximum today, Thursday, equals or is higher than 27C, we technically have endured a heatwave. At 08.00 the thermometer read 21.3C and was rising rapidly.
The Wednesday maximum, was 29.0, which made it the second hottest day this month being 6.3C above average. The thermometer only slowly fell overnight to a minimum of 15.1C at dawn, being 3.3C above average. Thankfully, this was 3C lower than the previous hot night.
The sunos Thursday, initially weakened by thin cloud in the eastern sky, soon rose above it and was shining strongly.
Yesterday was the eighteenth dry day this month. The rainfall total for July is now 31.4mm, which is 52% of the 35-year average, whereas the equivalent rainfall lost through evaporation from ground sources and plant life is 80mm.
Temperature at 08.00: 21.3C (70F)
Temperature at 09.00: 25.2C (77F)
Temperature at 10.00: 27.9C (82F)
Temperature at 11.00: 29.7C (85F)
Temperature at 12.00: 31.9C.(89F) – cloud building
Temperature at 13.00: 31.7C – mostly cloudy with high humidity
Temperature at 14.00: 31.2C – ribbon of cloud moving south to north obscuring sun
Temperature at 15.00: 31.5C
Temperature maximum of 32.6C (90.5F) at 16.10 making it the hottest day since 1st July 2015
The south easterly air flow brought heat from far south that pushed the thermometer to a maximum 32.0C at 17.35. That was the hottest day since 21st June 2018 and 9.3C above the average.
Although it was hot, with nearly 11 hours of sunshine, the solar energy peak was not as high as recent days. The UV level was recorded as high at 6.9, when recent days have been very high.
Just after midnight thunderstorms drifted in from the south producing 12.2mm of welcome rainfall. That brought the July total to 31.4mm, still well below the 35-year average of 59.9mm.
It was a very warm night with the minimum of 18.2C at 06.02 being 6.4C above the 35-year average.
Wednesday started sunny, once the sun had risen above cloud drifting to the east. However, just after 07.30 cloud and mist drifted in blocking out the sun.
Update on Wednesday at 14.05: the description of a heatwave is when the maximum daily temperature is equal to or above the Heatwave Threshold on three consecutive days. The Heatwave Threshold for Wiltshire is 27C. The thermometer reached a maximum of exactly 32C on Tuesday and 29.0C at 13.25 on Wednesday. Therefore, if as predicted, the maximum on Thursday equals or is higher than 27C, we technically have endured a heatwave.