Category: Commentary

Tuesday was a pleasant warm day as a result of 6.1 hours of strong sunshine. The temperature, although still above average (+2.9), was the lowest this month due the wind now coming from the north rather than the Continental southerly breeze. Due to thin high cloud the UV dropped into the Moderate level.

It was the seventh successive dry day with evaporation this month already totalling 10mm.

Another above average night followed with the thermometer not falling below 12.2C, being almost 3C above average.

Wednesday started with broken sunshine as a cloud band eased away to the east.

Update at 16.00: coolest day this month with a maximum of 19.7C but still above average (+1.1C).

Monday was the last day when the Continental warm air flooded the country that, with 2.9 hours of sunshine, lifted the thermometer to a maximum of 24.3C. This was 5.7C above the September average and the warmest day since 7th August.

A few spots of rain were observed at 18.05 that were insufficient to register in the rain gauge, and recorded as a trace.

Another mild night saw a minimum of 13.4C being 4.1C above average due to the thick cloud cover.

Tuesday arrived with thick cloud and a brisk wind now from the north.

Although autumn is accepted as starting at the equinox on 21st September, meteorologically autumn started on 1st September. This is to simplify the recording and analysis of data from three complete months rather than from 21st of September to 21st December. The same method is used for all four seasons.

Update at 16.30: temperature down 3C on Monday peak with maximum of 21.5C, but still 2.9C above September average. This was mainly due to a brisk wind varying between north and northeast rather than the south as earlier this month.

With 5.26 hours of strong sunshine on Sunday, and for most of the day the temperatures well above 20C, peaking at 23.7C being well above average (+5.1C), it felt more like August than September.

Another dry day although UV not getting above the Moderate category.

Sunday night was very mild due to the last of the southerly air, with thermometer not falling below 13.6C, which was a significant 4.3C above the 34-year average.

Monday arrived with brightness initially but thick cloud soon obscured any sunshine due to the leading edge of another weather front moving in from the west.

The last few days have been very calm due to slack pressure over the UK. This resulted in brief calm periods during daylight hours and longer periods over night.

Update at 14.35: very warm and humid day as strong sunshine from mid-morning lifted temperature to a maximum of 24.3C at 13.25. This was 5.4C above average for September and the warmest day for almost a month. Increasing cloud from an almost stationery cold front obscures sun in afternoon but rain 50 miles to the west.

Saturday saw the arrival of a light breeze from the south that lifted the temperature well above the September average to a maximum of 23.1C (+4.5C) at 14.31, the highest since 20th August.

We enjoyed 5 hours of strong sunshine with the UV level back into the High category.

A much milder night followed, due to the much warmer Continental air from the South, allowing the thermometer to drop no further than 10.8C, 1.5C above the September average.

With the breeze dropping out completely overnight, gossamer threads from spiders locked up both anemometers. It is unusual for both to be tied up. A long fibreglass pole allowed me to free them by standing on a bank to reach the highest some 4 metres above the ridge of the
bungalow.

Update at 14.30: maximum temperature of 23.7C at 14.18 before cloud thickened. This was 3.1C above the September average.

August Summary
The start of the month saw the continuation of the hot weather with a peak of 29.3C on the 5th and two days at 28.6C, on the 3rd and 6th respectively. Towards the end of August, we began to feel as if autumn was approaching as several chilly nights arrived, the coldest of which saw the thermometer fall to a minimum of 5.8C.

August gave us a summer month with 168 hours of strong sunshine, which was 60 hours above the average over the previous four years when this instrument was installed. There were 11 days when the UV level rose into the Very High category, the remaining days all registered as High except the damp, overcast day on the 26th when the UV was Low.

The equivalent rainfall lost to evaporation from ground sources and plant life was 81mm, which was 8mm greater than the 9-year average and exceeded rainfall by over 18mm.

The sunniest day occurred on the 5th with a total of 15.03 hours of strong sunshine, which triggers the sunshine recorder when the strength is greater than 100w/sq.m.

Unlike the two previous months rainfall was close to the average with a total of 62.5mm, just 4mm below the 34-year average. This total principally fell on three very wet days with 18.8mm, 13.0mm and 11.5mm on the 26th, 10th and 15th respectively. There were 16 totally dry days.

With so much sunshine it is not unexpected to find that the mean temperature was 0.8C above the average being the warmest August since 2004. The days were well above average (+1.1C) whereas the nights were much closer to the 34-year average (+0.4C).

As individuals we do have to adjust to our changing weather and August was no exception. The diurnal temperature for two particular days show that on the 5th there was a temperature variation of 19.7C whereas the 12th saw as little as 3.7C between day and night.

Summer 2018 Summary
The summer of 2018 was the 2nd warmest I have recorded since the station was set up in 1984. The record summer was in 2006.

Due to the very dry months of June and July, before the wet days of August occurred, the rainfall for the three months was just 93mm being 51% of the 34-year average.

The equivalent rainfall lost through evaporation over the summer totalled 318mm, which was 55mm greater than the 8-year average.

Sunshine for the three months totalled 652 hours, which was 74% above the average for the previous four years when the instrument was installed.

Friday was the sunniest day since the 25th with 5.6 hours of strong sunshine, especially late afternoon, that lifted the maximum to 21.2C, the warmest day since the 22nd being 0.5C above the 34-year August average.

A chilly night was to follow with a minimum of 7.9C.

Saturday day arrived with thick fog limiting visibility to 100m. As the sun grew in strength after dawn this slowly thinned so that by 08.00, when readings were taken, had lifted to give misty conditions with visibility raised to 1,500m.

Update at 18.15: southerly breeze brings warmer Continental air lifting maximum to 23.1C at 14.34 being 4.5C above the September average.

August Summary

The start of the month saw the continuation of the hot weather with a peak of 29.3C on the 5th and two days at 28.6C, on the 3rd and 6th respectively. Towards the end of August, we began to feel as if autumn was approaching as several chilly nights arrived, the coldest of which saw the thermometer fall to a minimum of 5.8C.

August gave us a summer month with 168 hours of strong sunshine, which was 60 hours above the average over the previous four years when this instrument was installed. There were 11 days when the UV level rose into the Very High category, the remaining days all registered as High except the damp, overcast day on the 26th when the UV was Low.

The equivalent rainfall lost to evaporation from ground sources and plant life was 81mm, which was 8mm greater than the 9-year average and exceeded rainfall by over 18mm.

The sunniest day occurred on the 5th with a total of 15.03 hours of strong sunshine, which triggers the sunshine recorder when the strength is greater than 100w/sq.m.

Unlike the two previous months rainfall was close to the average with a total of 62.5mm, just 4mm below the 34-year average. This total principally fell on three very wet days with 18.8mm, 13.0mm and 11.5mm on the 26th, 10th and 15th respectively. There were 16 totally dry days.

With so much sunshine it is not unexpected to find that the mean temperature was 0.8C above the average being the warmest August since 2004. The days were well above average (+1.1C) whereas the nights were much closer to the 34-year average (+0.4C).

As individuals we do have to adjust to our changing weather and August was no exception. The diurnal temperature for two particular days show that on the 5th there was a temperature variation of 19.7C whereas the 12th saw as little as 3.7C between day and night.

Summer 2018 Summary

The summer of 2018 was the 2nd warmest I have recorded since the station was set up in 1984. The record summer was in 2006.

Due to the very dry months of June and July, before the wet days of August occurred, the rainfall for the three months was just 93mm being 51% of the 34-year average.

The equivalent rainfall lost through evaporation over the summer totalled 318mm, which was 55mm greater than the 8-year average.

Sunshine for the three months totalled 652 hours, which was 74% above the average for the previous four years when the instrument was installed.