Category: Commentary

Friday continued the flow of Arctic air although the maximum eased up slightly from the previous day to a maximum of 4.8C, still 3C below the December average.

It was a dry day with the brisk northerly wind persisting gusting to 25mph in the morning.

Overnight the thermometer fell little, a minimum of 0.6C, due to the cloud arriving from a weather front heralding a change in the weather.

We had 5.7 hours of strong sunshine yesterday but the thick cloud this morning suggests that during Saturday we will see little of the sun.

Thursday brought us the coldest day since 9th February with a minimum of 3.3C. This was 6.7C below the average but the wind chill meant that that it felt more like -1C.

There were 6.43 hours of sunshine with another totally dry day.

The thermometer dropped to 0.6C, just missing an air frost due to the breeze that persisted throughout the night, peaking at 25mph at its strongest in daylight hours.

Maximum down again to 5.2C: 4.8C below average
Minimum down again to -0.6C: 4.3C below average
Soil at 5cm depth down again at 0.9C: 4C below average

Wednesday was another sunny day with reduced hours of strong sunshine compared to Tuesday, 3.3 hours, as cloud began to obscure the sun early afternoon. With no rainfall again it was the fourteenth dry day this month. The total rainfall of 60.3mm is 32mm below the November average.

There was significant wind chill yesterday from the strong northwesterly breeze, gusting to 19mph, that meant the air felt 2C to 3c below that registered on the thermometer.

An air and ground frost set in just after midnight, due to the clearing skies, that at 08.00 promised more sunshine today.

As tuesday progressed the wind began to veer from the west into the northwest bringing even colder weather. The maximum was just 6.3C (3.7C below average) but the wind chill meant that this felt more like 4C.

The wind from this direction is much drier giving us a greater amount of sunshine, 5.6 hours yesterday, and no rain. The humidity this morning at 08.00 has dropped from the high 90’s on previous days to 89%.

Overnight the thermometer fell to 0.5C, which was 3.2C below average, and producing a ground frost. It is not surprising to find that the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has dropped to 1.2C, the lowest since 12th February.

This morning is dawning bright with a clear sky and the promise of more sunshine.

On Monday the wind was predominantly from the west, a cool direction. Although this restricted the maximum to 9.1C, being 1C below average, the minimum dropped to 2.0C just after 2am, which was 2.4C below average, although the temperature recovered to 3.7C at 08.00 this morning.

There was a light shower overnight amounting to 0.5mm bringing the total for November to 60.3mm. This is 32mm below the 33-year average, and with just three days left in the month, looks as if November 2017 is also going to be a relatively dry month following the very dry October.