Category: Commentary

After the very sunny day on Wednesday with 7.4 hours of strong sunshine, which followed the overcast day on Tuesday, yesterday was back to the thick cloud and no sunshine. As a consequence the temperature was down again to a maximum of 15.2C, still above average (+0.6).

There was a very light shower of drizzle mid afternoon amounting to 0.2mm bringing the total for October to 31.0mm

Late afternoon the start of a clearance, from the persistent meandering weather front, could be detected from the west as the wind veered into the north west. The sky slowly cleared allowing the thermometer to drop to a minimum of 6.9C by dawn, which promised a much more sunny day to follow.

The barometric pressure with a reading of 1032.2mb at 08.00 as a result of a ridge of high pressure, is the highest pressure since 20th April.

After a dismal day on Tuesday, Wednesday was a gloriously sunny day with 7.36 hours of strong sunshine, the second sunniest day this month, 7.91 hours on the 9th.

The sunshine again boosted the temperature above maximum to 16.4C (+1.8C) but down nearly 2C on the previous day’s maximum. Another dry day, the 10th this month.

Overnight the temperature initially fell away under the clear skies but this was reversed as after 02.17, when a minimum of 5.9C (-1.4C against average) was recorded, the advancing cloud lifted the temperature to 11.0C at 08.00.

This morning we are back to the very low cloud and hill fog (visibility down to around 900m) with moisture in the atmosphere, but not enough to be measurable, as the wandering weather front again travels back over southern England. With completely calm conditions, there is no air movement to lift or move on the very thick, low cloud.

Tuesday was memorable for the very mild air brought to us on the south-westerly wind, gusting to a peak of 25mph, from deep down in the Azores.

The thermometer steadily rose to a maximum of 18.2C, which was 3.6C above the 33-year average. Likewise the overnight cloud and mild air meant another well above average minimum of 13.1C, that being almost 6C above the long-term average for October.

We have so far enjoyed 18 above average maxima and 20 above minima from the 24 days in October to date.

There was more brightness than the previous dull day and that included 1.4 hours of strong sunshine.

No precipitation was recorded yesterday so the total for October, that is turning out to be a very dry month, is now 30.8mm when the 33-year average is 86.4mm

Monday produced the sixth day this month without sunshine. The south-westerly breeze brought drizzle early morning then thick cloud for all day and very mild conditions.

Rainfall amounted to just 0.6mm

It is quite remarkable that the thermometer only dropped to 13.7C overnight and that occurred just after 11pm, rising again to 14.9C at 08.00. The maximum of 15.9C was 1.3C above average but the minimum was 6.4C above the October average.

There is little change in the weather this morning with thick cloud persisting but currently no precipitation.

Although it was a dry during daylight hours on Sunday the welcome 4.84 hours of strong sunshine did not mean a warm day. In fact, with a minimum of 12.1C, being 2.5C below the long-term average, it was the coolest day since 3rd May due to the brisk westerlies, gusting to 23mph.

Overnight cloud meant a minimum of 9.7C, with light rainfall amounting to 0.7mm.

This morning low cloud and drizzle dominate the weather with the temperature reading 11.3C at 08.00.