Category: Commentary

During the brief sunshine on Wednesday afternoon, amounting to 2.7 hours, the UV level rose to 3.2, the highest since 2nd October.

Wednesday gave us a wet morning with 5.0mm of rainfall brining the total for March to 107mm. During the afternoon it dried up in the sunshine although the brisk westerly wind pegged back the temperature to a maximum of 7.4C being 3C below the average and down 4.5C on Tuesday’s maximum.

With clear skies for most of the night the thermometer fell away to a minimum of 0.4C at 05.50 this morning giving a short and light ground frost.

Thursday has dawned with variable cloud and the first rain starting to fall just after 7.30am. The temperature recovered to 1.6C at 08.00.

FACT: 1.sunshine in March (to 29th) equal to that recorded in January and half that recorded in February.

2. At 18.00 on Thursday total rainfall this month within 1mm of being wettest March since records began here in 1984.

Tuesday was a dry day but the rain arrived again overnight, starting just after 04.30 this morning, bringing another 4.9mm of rain so that the total now stands at 102.2mm. With rain continuing to fall and more forecast for the remainder of March, we will be getting close to or exceeding the wettest March I have recorded that was set in 2001 with 113.7mm.

There was brief glimpse of the un on Tuesday, but lasting only 13 minutes. The total sunshine for March is well down on the average for the past few years.

Tuesday day and night both gave us above average temperatures with a maximum of 11.7C (+1.1C) and a minimum of 4.7C (+2.5C).

Wednesday morning has dawned dark and wet with steady rain continuing to fall.

Wednesday update at 17.00: maximum temperature below average again with peak of just 7.4C at 15.03,which was 4C down on Tuesday and 3C below 34year average.

Monday proved to be a pleasant spring day with almost 6 hours of sunshine and the highest UV level since early October. However, the next weather front showed its hand after 13.30 as approaching clod began to blot out the sun.

The thermometer rose to a maximum of 12.0C, been 1.5C above the average for March. Due to the increasing cloud cover it was a warm night when the temperature did not drop below 4.6C, which was 2C above average.

After midnight the first of the light rain showers arrived and by 08.00 today another 4.1mm had been collected bringing the March total to 97.3mm making it the wettest March since 2008.

Sunday gave us one hour of sunshine and very light winds with a maximum gust of just 11mph. As a result the thermometer rose to its highest for ten days with a maximum of 11.2C, just above the March average.

It was only the fourth completely dry day in March with the total for the month of 93.2mm, being 162% of the 34-year March average.

With a clear sky and no wind to stir up the air, the thermometer fell steadily in the evening to reach a minimum of -1.0C at 07.31.

Monday morning dawned with a continuing clear sky, the sunshine was such that by 08.00 it had triggered the sunshine recorder into action that needs 100w/sq.m as a minimum to start recording.

Saturday started with low cloud and drizzle and continued in that manner throughout the day. There was very little brightness as the very slow moving weather front became almost stationary over the south of England. The strongest gust of wind only reached 11mph and for much of the day and night saw movement of just 5 or 6mph.

There was little substantial rainfall, just 0.7mm in the past twenty-four hours.

Sunday has arrived with 100% cloud cover but is a little higher and thinner than on Saturday. As on Saturday, there is very little wind movement.

Not surprisingly, the temperatures were down on the past four days with a maximum of 8.4C, being 2C below the March average and a minimum of 5.2C due to the lack of sunshine and also that the wind had moved into the north east.

Sunday update at 21.15: thermometer falling rapidly, currently reading 4.5C, having fallen almost 7C since maximum of 11.2C at 15.45. Northerly breeze fallen completely away.