Category: Commentary

Saturday brought many hours of drizzle and rain showers amounting to 8.2mm, the wettest day for a month and raising the January total to 27.5mm.

The wind speed from the south west on Saturday began to pick up in the afternoon, during heavy rain showers, with the strongest gust of 22mph.

Overnight showers continued. The barometric pressure fell to its lowest since 4th March 2018 with a reading of 984.2mb before beginning to rise this morning as a depression crossed the north of the UK and away into the North Sea.

Just before 05.00, Sunday morning, the wind began to veer from the south west into the north west, increasing in wind strength and the temperature to drop. The strongest gust of 36mph was measured at 06.37. The thermometer fell to its lowest at 06.01 with a minimum of 2.8C but the strength of the wind produced a wind chill so that it felt more like -1.8C at that time.

With the air mass circuiting clockwise around the anticyclone to the west of the UK bringing mild, moist air from mid Atlantic, it was not surprising to see the thermometer steadily rise to a maximum of 10.8C at 14.12. This made it the warmest day since 29th December being 3.8C above average.

It was a dry day with some brightness around midday.

Overnight remained cloudy with a minimum of 6.6C, which was 5.3C above average.

Saturday arrived with low cloud, drizzle and very light winds.

The precipitation for January now stands at just 19.3mm, being 73mm below the 35-year
average.

Update on Saturday at 20.30: another above average day with a maximum of 9.3C (+2.3C) with heavy rain late afternoon.

Thursday saw such little movement of the air with the maximum speed of just 8mph whilst there were many periods when we were becalmed.

The thermometer eased a little higher than on Wednesday with a maximum of 5.4C at 15.17, still 1.6C below average.

Overnight the thermometer initially fell to 2.5C at 01.05 but the influence of a warm weather front crossing the area meant that the thermometer began to rise again. It reached 7.2C at 08.00 on Friday morning, which arrived with thick cloud and a low base limiting visibility to 1,100m and covering the Marlborough Downs.

Update on Friday at 10.20: The air mass circulating clockwise around the anticyclone to the west of the UK is bringing mild and moist air from mid Atlantic. Temperature currently 8.5C, which is 1.5C above average and rising.

Update on Friday at 17.50: maximum temperature of 10.8C at 14.12 makes today the warmest day since 29th December, being 3.8C above average.

After early morning cloud the sun broke through and gave us 5.8 hours of strong sunshine that melted snow but not that in the shade. The wind, now from the north west, meant a cold day with the thermometer struggling to reach just 3.1C, which was 4C below average.

Overnight the thermometer fell quickly under clear skies to a minimum of -3.4C giving a hard frost at 02.13, then advancing cloud lifted this to -0.8C at 08.00 the morning (Thursday).

Thursday morning arrived with 7/8ths cloud cover so not much possibility of sunshine but the temperature easing upwards.

Update on Thursday at 17.46: change in wind direction as it backed from north west to west, and a little brightness, allowed the temperature to ease upwards a little to 5.4C, up 2C on Wednesday but still 1.6C below average. A dry day.

Tuesday saw sleet showers at 13.15 mixed with rain but then from 13.45 to 14.10 heavy snow fell with large flakes. The temperature rose to a maximum of 5.4C, which was 1.6C below average, but allowed the snow to melt on hard surfaces during the late afternoon.

Overnight there was another dusting of snow that brought the precipitation for the past twenty-four hours to 4.0mm.

Just before midnight the barometric pressure was at its lowest since 20th December with a reading of 997.2mb.

Wednesday arrived with variable cloud after a minimum of -1.1C at 03.05, which was 2.4C below average. The wind has now veered from the south west into the north west.

Update on Wednesday at 14.50: thermometer struggled to reach a maximum temperature of just 3.1C at 14.29 after overnight frost and additional light snow shower, which was almost 4C below average. Limited melting of snow in sunshine but not that in shade.

at 17.55: temperature now falling below freezing at -0.2C