Category: Commentary

Sunday started off with light rain and a murky morning but after midday the sky began to lighten and by mid-afternoon the sunshine, amounting to 5.5 hours, was very strong and the UV level peaked at 7.1, which was in the “Very High’ category.

As a result of the moist, warm continental air and strong sunshine, the temperature reached a peak of 24.7C at 18.14, which was almost 8C above the May average.

The sunshine total for May is currently 234 hours, which is more than double the average for the previous four years.

Overnight the temperature dropped away to a minimum of 11.4C, which was 4C above average, allowing fog to form with visibility down to 150m at dawn. By 08.00 the thermometer had recovered to 15.1C and the fog was slowly thinning.

The sun returned on Saturday with 5.7 hours that, with the warmer air from the near continent, boosted the thermometer to a maximum of 23.3C being 6.5C above the 34-year average.

It was a dry day with gusting northeasterly winds up to a maximum of 27mph followed by a dry night.

With the thermometer falling no lower than 13.4C overnight, due to the thick cloud, it was the warmest night since 16th October.

Sunday has arrived with predominantly thick cloud cover with just the occasional glimpse of brightness however rain has started to fall, briefly, as I write this at 08.16.

Friday was another overcast day but a little milder. During the afternoon there were brighter periods and 15 minutes of sunshine that lifted the temperature closer to average with a maximum of 16.3C.The wind, having backed a few degrees, came from a more northerly direction for most of the day and was much lighter with a maximum of 14mph.

Although Thursday night brought the wettest 24-hour period for almost four years the total for May is 43.6mm, still 17.5mm below the 34-year average.

The thick cloud persisted overnight giving another mild night with the minimum 4.5C above average with the lowest point of 11.4C.

Saturday dawned with fog limiting visibility to 400m and occasional drizzle in the breeze and now back into the north east.

Although Thursday started with light rain it soon stopped giving a cool, moist day with occasional spots of rain from thick cloud. As a result of the dense cloud, temperatures were depressed with a maximum of only 14.1C, which was 2.8C below average and down 5.8C on Wednesday.

The UV level, not surprisingly, was the lowest for a month as was solar energy and we endured only the second day in May without sunshine.

Just after 16.30 the rain started with a vengeance and continued for over four hours resulting in a total of 31.9mm, which just after 8pm was falling at the rate of 31mm/hour. There was a clap of thunder and lightning at 19.09. Looking back through the records I find that this was the wettest day since 18th August 2014 when 40.6mm of rainfall was recorded.

The low cloud persisted overnight that meant a mild night with the thermometer not falling below 11.6C.

Friday has started where Thursday left off with thick cloud lowering over the Marlborough Downs but thankfully the wind has dropped becoming light and currently no rain is falling.

Wednesday produced another sunny day with 9.6 hours, the lowest total for seven days, which was much cooler as the northeasterly wind was strong all day with gusts to 24mph.

The maximum temperature was down again to 19.9C, still 3C above the average.

Overnight thick rain bearing cloud drifted in from the east with light rain just after 6am amounting to 0.6mm by 08.00.

Thursday update at 18.40: only second day in May without sunshine also continuous steady rainfall for past two hours.

Wettest day since August 2016 and still raining