Category: Commentary

Wednesday brought 8 hours of almost continuous rain, heavy in the evening as a narrow band slowly moved eastwards over this area. The daily rainfall amounted to 17.8mm, the wettest day since 4th April (18.8mm).

During the earlier sunny intervals the thermometer crept up to a maximum of 14.1C, which was 3C below average.

Cloud overnight meant the thermometer did not drop below 7.2C, average for May.

Thursday arrived with the hang back of thick cloud from the depression but the wind had dropped to light and the rain had stopped.

With the sunshine recorder now overhauled and back in position I recorded 3.6 hours of sunshine, which occurred principally in the morning.

Tuesday brought us broken sunshine, and with the wind moving into the south and later into southeast, produced a slightly warmer day with a maximum of 14.5C but this was still 2.6C below average.

The barometric pressure has been falling since 01.00 on Monday as a depression approached from the Atlantic with a reading of 990.6mb at 08.00 Wednesday. Ahead of the low pressure was a wide rain band that produced a few spots of rain at 22.45 but the continuous rain started at 01.35 Wednesday, producing 7.4mm of rainfall, being the wettest day for over a month.

The hang back of cloud from the depression meant no sunshine at dawn on Wednesday as the depression and its associated cloud eased away to the northeast. As a result of the thick, low cloud overnight it was a much warmer with a minimum of 7.1C, which was exactly average for May.

My sunshine recorder has now been overhauled and placed back in position above roof height, I am very pleased to report, therefore data from that instrument will be on the website after today.

Monday was another below average day with the maximum only 12.4C. which was 4.7C below average and just 0.4C warmer than the peak on Sunday.

It was a dry day with the wind predominantly from the northwest peaking at 15mph, a cool direction bringing the Arctic air.

The night just passed was less cold than the previous night with a minimum of 3.7C, even so this was 3.4C below average.

Tuesday saw a bright start but a predominantly cloudy sky with little wind.

With some brightness on Sunday morning the thermometer crept up to a maximum of 11.9C at 14.14, which was 5.1C below average, after a very cold night. Fortunately the wind had dropped almost completely after the very breezy day on Saturday.

A cool night was to follow, but thankfully for gardeners no air frost. The thermometer dropped to a minimum of 2.2C at 06.24 Monday morning, which was 4.9C below the 35-year average.

Broken sunshine followed the dawn on Monday morning, with variable cloud, that lifted the temperature to 6.3C at 08.00.

With the maximum on Saturday 6C below the average (11.3C) and the minimum in the early hours of Sunday 8.3C below average (-1.2C), the Arctic air made itself felt. During daylight hours the wind gusted to 25mph from the north that produced a wind chill, which made it feel a couple of degrees cooler and the subzero minimum meant a sharp air as well as ground frost.

Sunday saw broken cloud after dawn with the thermometer struggling to get above freezing by 08.00 reaching just 2.6C.