Thursday brought almost 5.6 hours of welcome sunshine, which was broken just after 13.30 by a brief downpour bringing 1.8mm of rain.
Before the rain cloud, the thermometer rose to 9.6C, which was almost 3C above the January average.
Overnight the clearer skies meant that the minimum of 1.1C just after 06.00 today meant a ground frost although by 08.00 the temperature had recovered to 3.3C and evidence of the ground frost was disappearing.
Wednesday brought us another day with continuous rain for almost eight hours amounting 7.8mm. This brings the January total to 67.9mm, still 24mm below the January average.
At 10.10 a squall line travelled across the area with a narrow band of intense rain for 20 minutes. Just ahead of this event the wind gusted to 39mph.
The wide, slow weather front at first travelled eastwards then in a northeasterly direction over southern England, hence the prolonged wet spell.
The maximum temperature was at dawn yesterday as the thermometer slowly fell away during the day and reached its minimum of 4.1C at 08.00 this morning, the cloud having cleared.
Today has dawned with minimal cloud and the promise of sunshine. We have endured 9 sunless days this month so some sunshine today would be wonderful.
In the past twenty-four hours we have experienced:-
Warmest day since 22nd November with a maximum of 12.9C being 6C above the 34-year January average and up 3.7C on Monday’s maximum.
Warmest night since 22nd November with a minimum of 9.6C just before midnight, being 8.1C above the average and up 3C on Monday’s maximum.
Warmest morning at 08.00 since 22nd November with a temperature of 12.0C
Warmest soil at 08.00 and at a depth of 5cm since 22nd November with a temperature of 9.9C
The temperature fell away until just before midnight before the next weather front arrived. There was a short shower mid-afternoon yesterday and more just after 7am today with a total of 1.4mm.
The wind strength increased significantly after 02.00 today with the strongest gust of 42mph at 02.33. The average strength built up after that time with the current 10 minute average of 10mph.
The warmer, moist air mass that arrived yesterday meant that the maximum over the past twenty-four hours occurred this morning with a temperature of 9.6C at 08.00 and the minimum of 6.6C set early this morning at 01.19.
Brief sunshine on Monday totalled 1.19 hours and the UV level at 0.8 the highest for a month and equal to that set on the 16th.
Rain earlier this morning, from a narrow band of cloud, came to 2.5mm, bringing the total for January to 58.7mm, still 31mm short of the 34-year January average. The wind within this rain band became gusty with a maximum of 21 mph.
Sunday began with rain starting just after 6am and continuing for 12 hours producing 17.3mm, the wettest day for almost a month bringing the January total to 56.2mm, still 36mm below the 34-year January average. The heaviest rain fell in bursts between 15.15 and 15.45 at an equivalent rate of 14mm per hour. The previous higher total was 21.2mm on 26th December.
The other notable feature was the temperature, which read 1.2C at 08.00 on Sunday and remained a little above freezing until early afternoon. Just before 15.00 there was a steady, significant rise to 10.3C at 19.25, some 3.5C above the January average maximum as the wind veered from the southeast into the southwest bringing a milder air mass.
Although for much of the day the wind was light, during the evening there were stronger gusts with a peak of 23mph recorded at 21.08.
As the thick cloud thinned a little in the early hours of today, the thermometer fell back to 7.0C at 08.00. It is currently dry and a little brighter as the very wide rain band from yesterday sinks away to the southeast.