Category: Commentary

Thursday was another grand day with 15.3 hours of strong sunshine and the UV level back into the ‘High’ category after the previous dull, sunless day.

The 152 hours of strong sunshine so far this month is already far greater in total than the average (116 hours) for the whole of May over the past four years since this instrument was installed.

The northeasterly breeze, not quite as strong as on Wednesday, pegged back the temperature to a maximum of 16.9C, average for May.

With clear skies and the wind dropping out completely overnight it resulted in a ground frost with the air temperature falling as low as 0.8C at 05.35. Fortunately, for those of us with tender flower and vegetable plants with their heads just above ground level, it was not quite cold enough to produce damage but a very close run thing!

Wednesday was the first day this month that no sunshine was recorded due to the continuous cloud cover brought across from the North Sea on the very strong northeasterly wind. The sunshine total for this month, of 137 hours, already is greater than that recorded for any May over the past four years.

As a consequence of the cloud and cool wind the maximum temperature of 14.8C was 2C below average and 8C below the peak on Tuesday.

The strong wind, gusting to 25mph at times, produced a wind chill that meant the temperature felt a couple of degrees cooler.

The clearing skies late afternoon and overnight meant a cool night with a minimum of 4.6C, which was 2.4C below the May average, but fortunately no frost occurred.

Thursday has dawned with intermittent strong sunshine and the wind, having fallen light in the early hours, has intensified since 4.15am.

Thursday update at 19.30: almost 15 hours of glorious strong sunshine today, the third sunniest day this May.

Another 14.7 hours of strong sunshine on Tuesday raised the temperature again to a maximum of 22.6C, being almost 6C above average.

Cloud overnight meant that we enjoyed the warmest night since 22nd April with the thermometer falling no lower than 11.7C, being 4.6C above average.

Wednesday has dawned with the wind veering from the North into the Northeast bringing moister air and cloud from the North Sea. There were a few spots of rain at 6.30 am this morning but nothing measurable.

Half way through the month has seen rainfall totalling just 9.1mm but evaporation from ground sources and plant life totalling 47.3mm making an equivalent loss of moisture into the atmosphere of 38mm.

Wednesday update: a drop of 8C on the Tuesday peak with a maximum of only 14.8C, which was 2C below on average.

Monday gave us 15.43 hours of strong sunshine, from dawn to dusk, which made it the sunniest day since 26th May 2017. The strong sun produced the highest solar energy since 5th July 2017 and not surprisingly the UV level reached into the “Very High” category.

The temperature was also on the rise and back above average (+3.6C) with a peak of 20.4C at 16.29.

The past night was mild with the lowest temperature of 7.5C, just above average, at 01.41, before rising during the early hours of the morning to reach 13.2C at 08.00.

Tuesday promises another very sunny day with strong sun from dawn, although a little hazier than on Monday, initially.

Tuesday update at 16.00: it has been the warmest day for a week with a peak temperature of 22.6C, which is almost 6C above average.

Sunday gave us 10.4 hours of strong sunshine and the UV level in the ‘High’ category again.

A brisk northwesterly breeze moderated the temperature but even so the thermometer rose to a maximum of 17.9C. This was 1.1C above the 34-year average and up almost 4C on the Saturday maximum.

Another cool night followed with the temperature dropping away to a minimum of 5.1C, almost 2C below average for May.

Monday has dawned with strong sunshine that gave us the warmest morning at 08.00 for almost a week, with the thermometer recovering to 11.2C.

The drier northwesterly wind is still in evidence that combined with minimal rainfall over the past ten days gave us the lowest humidity at 08.00, of 73%, since 26th February.

Monday update at 19.30: warmest day for a week with a maximum of 20.4C at 16.29

Monday update at 20.00: sunniest day for a year with 15.43 hours of strong sunshine.