Category: Commentary

Wednesday gave us a wet morning but the sun eventually broke through in the afternoon to give us 5.23 hours of strong sunshine. However, the temperature was moderated by the broken cloud that produced several showers with that occurring at 14.26 producing small hail. The total precipitation was 7.3mm.

Clearing skies meant another chilly night, but not as low as a frost with the thermometer only falling to 3.4C.

Thursday broke with hazy sunshine thanks to much higher barometric pressure, that continues to rise.

Thursday update at 17.00: warmth returns with the warmest day since 22nd April producing a maximum of 16.8C at 15.48, average for early May.

Tuesday 1st May brought us 9.4 hours off strong sunshine and a recovery in UV levels. This raised the thermometer to a maximum of 13.2C in the breezy south-westerly winds, but still 3.6C below average.

It was dry day but the next weather front was heralded by increasing cloud early evening and light rainfall occurred before dawn measuring 0.8mm.

Wednesday arrived with thick, low cloud and light rain ahead of the heavy rain in the next hour or so with the wind from the south gusting to 28mph.

The blanket of cloud meant a mild night with no frost, as on Tuesday morning, with a minimum of 8.3C.

April Summary

Our weather always seems to provoke a conversation due to its variability and the past April was no exception that included another broken record.

The month began with a downpour resulting in the wettest day of the month with 18.2mm on the 1st, which was the wettest day since 26th December. With only 13 dry days, the average is 16, it was not surprising to find that the total for the month was 4.6mm above the 34-year average with 62.8mm.

Although both January and February produced rainfall a little below average the exceptional March and then wetter April totals meant that during the first four months of 2018 the rainfall total was 50mm above the 34-year average.

I have mentioned the variability in our weather and this can be shown that in April 1984 the rainfall was negligible with just 2.0mm whereas in April 2000 we were swamped under 165.2mm.

When reviewing the temperatures throughout the month I find that there was a variation of almost 20C between the warmest and coolest day. The very wet day on the 1st meant that the thermometer struggled to reach 7.3C whereas under the influence of the very warm air from the Iberian Peninsula on the 19th it soared to 26.5C. This high beat the previous record set on 23rd April 2011 of 26.2C. The April average maximum is 14.01C.

Due to the many cloudy days and occasional warmer spells the mean temperature for April was 1.3C above the 34-year average. This was principally due to the lack of frost and warmer nights under the blanket of cloud that stopped warmth radiating into the atmosphere.

This was only the second year that April did not produce an air frost as happened in April 2011. Looking back over the records many an April in the 1980’s and 1990’s produced 9 or 10 days with an air frost.

If you think April was a dull month with occasional brighter periods you were correct, as the sunshine total was just 110 hours. I have only had this instrument installed for four years but this total was 60 hours below the three-year average. This lack of sunshine resulted in the solar energy being only 79% of the long-term average.

With a sunny start to May and the barometer rising we look forward to a warmer and drier month.

Monday was not as bad as forecast beginning with thick cloud that started to thin late morning and by late afternoon there were glimpses of sunshine amounting to 0.7 hours.

Thankfully, Monday was not as cold as previous days but with the maximum still below average with a peak of 10.6C late afternoon, which was 3.4C below average.

As the sky cleared in the evening the thermometer started to fall steadily to reach a minimum of -0.2C briefly at 06.08 before rising to 6.0C at 08.00 under the influence of strong sunshine from dawn. There were no air frosts in April, only the second occurrence since my records began in 1984.

Tuesday has the promise of much more sunshine during the day before cloud arrives from the next weather front later today.

Sunday gave us another day with thick cloud and strong north easterly winds, gusting to 28mph, that restricted the temperatures for a third day.

An indication that the cloud was persistently thick with strong, cool winds giving wind chill was that the thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of only 7.9C at 11.49 when peak temperatures at this time of year are usually late afternoon. That peak was 6.1C below the average with wind chill making it feel more like 4C.

The cloud thinned a little overnight allowing the temperature to fall only 3C to a minimum 4.2C at 06.13 this morning, being 0.5C above average.

At 08.00 on this Monday morning the wind has been increasing again for the last few hours giving a wind chill that makes it feel like 1.2C with the thermometer now reading 4.5C.

As the depression over the continent slowly edged northeastwards the wind backed further, currently from the north, with the change occurring around midnight. The current rain radar indicates that we are likely to miss the heavy rainfall previously forecast for this area with the nearest rain some 20 miles to the east and slowly edging away.

Monday update at 18.30: temperature rose to a high of 10.6C, the warmest day for four days but still 4C below average. Thankfully the strong winds have been abating.

Saturday was even worse than Friday with the wind now in the Northeast it was cold, breezy and damp. The thermometer struggled to briefly reach a maximum of 8.3C having been just below for most of the day. This was the third coldest day in April and a significant 6C below the average.

No sunshine occurred due to the persistent thick cloud with the UV level very low. Bands of drizzle occurred from time to time but with no significant amount, the total for the day was 0.4mm.

Overnight the thermometer slipped away to a minimum of 5.3C being 1.6C above the average.

Sunday has arrived and is again cloudy, cold and damp, exactly as was Saturday, due to the extensive cloud from the depression lurking over the content and due to move nearer with signifiant rainfall in the future. The northeasterly is causing a wind chill that both yesterday and today drops the temperature so that it feels at least 1C below the thermometer reading.

Sunday update at 10.00: temperature of only 6.2C but wind chill makes it feel more like 3C.

Sunday update at 15.25: maximum today of only 7.9C, very briefly, (average 14C) with wind chill making it feel more like 4C in strengthening northeasterly wind gusting to 25mph.