Category: Commentary

With over twelve hours of continuous rain on Wednesday one could call it a wash out day! The total precipitation was 17.5mm bringing the monthly total to 50.3mm, only 15mm below the monthly average, and the wettest day since 26th December.

Not surprisingly there was no sunshine and a low UV level. However, the milder air from a southeasterly direction enabled the thermometer to rise from 03.00 to a maximum of 8.3C at 21.58 last night.

From that time the cloud began to thin and allow the temperature to drop away with a reading of 5.2C at 08.00 this morning, making it the warmest start to the day this month.

The wind yesterday was again very blustery with gusts to 34mph.

Today has dawned dry with broken cloud and glimpses of sunshine.

Tuesday gave us a very wet and windy day that only started to improve late afternoon with the sky beginning to clear. The rain was persistent until mid-afternoon, amounting to 7.6mm that brings the total for February to 32.8mm, which is 50% of the 34-year average.

The thermometer again struggled to reach 5.1C, more than 2C below the average. However, as the sky cleared late afternoon the temperature began to tumble reaching a minimum of -2.7C at 02.37 this morning. Thereafter, the effect of the next weather front began to reverse the fall in that at 08.00 this morning the thermometer was above freezing with a reading of 1.7C.

This morning is bright, but no sunshine, as the cloud thickens heralding the next weather front bringing wind and more rain.

Update at 13.00: Temperature 3.7C, Wind Chill 1C, Wind gusts 33mph from south east.

Monday was the sunniest day this month with 7.4 hours of strong sun so it was not surprising that the UV level rose slightly again to the highest since early November and solar energy the greatest since 8th October.

The thermometer was slow to rise yesterday after the hard frost and struggled to reach 6.3C at 13.46, being 1C below the average for February.

The barometric pressure has been falling steadily over the past twenty-four hours and reached its lowest this month at 08.00 with a pressure of 996.6mb. Therefore it is not surprising to hear the wind rising since midnight with a maximum gust of 33mph at 04.38 this morning.

Rain began to fall just after 7am this morning and totalled 2.2mm by 08.00 and continues to fall heavily from the thick cloud with a low cloud base.

As I write this article at 08.30 the precipitation has turned to sleet and wet snow as the temperature currently is 2.9C.

Sunday brought us 6 hours of strong sunshine that were interrupted by a shower of light hail at 14.20 and snow later at 15.30. These were from the rash of shower activity that arrived on the west then northwest wind that gusted to 25mph producing significant wind chill. The precipitation was minimal from these short, light showers amounting to 0.1mm and not settling. The maximum temperature was just 4.8C.

The clear sky overnight produced a hard frost with the thermometer sinking to -2.7C at 06.35 but recovering to -1.2C at 08.00.

This morning has broken with sunshine and clear skies.

The rain set in just after 08.00 yesterday and continued for almost eight hours before a short break late afternoon and more late evening. The rainfall amounted to 6.2mm, bringing the total for February to 22.9mm.

The thermometer slowly rose during the day and even higher in the evening until it reached a maximum of 9.6C at 23.15.This was the warmest day since January 29th.

The rain ceased just before midnight although the wind had been rising giving a peak gust of 33mph at 23.25.

After midnight the wind veered into the west bringing a drier and cooler air such that at 08.00 today the thermometer had dropped nearly 8C with a reading of 2.2C and humidity down with a reading of 87%.

This morning has dawned with strong sunshine as soon as the sun got up.

Update at 14.20: Hail (small) showers
at 15.35: Snow (light) shower