Category: Commentary

The effects of Storm Brian were felt throughout saturday with strong gusts of wind peaking at 40mph at 15.22. The wind, predominantly from the south, veered into the west just before 8pm.

Both maximum and minimum temperatures were close to the average with 14.3C (-0.3C) and 7.6C (+0.3C) at 08.00, the thermometer having fallen steadily after midnight.

This morning is bright with hazy sunshine promising more today after the 2.8 hours of strong sunshine yesterday. This is the coolest morning since 7th October.

The change to a westerly air flow, much weaker than yesterday, has also brought drier air with humidity at 08.00 reading 86%, the driest start to a day for a month.

Rainfall yesterday amounted to 1.2mm, bringing the total for October to 29.5mm, which is just 34% of the 33-year average.

The barometric pressure, having fallen and risen rapidly over the past few days, is this morning rising rapidly (1012mb at 08.00) under the influence of a small ridge of high pressure.

The effects of Storm Brian were felt throughout saturday with strong gusts of wind peaking at 40mph at 15.22. The wind, predominantly from the south, veered into the west just before 8pm.

Both maximum and minimum temperatures were close to the average with 14.3C (-0.3C) and 7.6C (+0.3C) at 08.00, the thermometer having fallen steadily after midnight.

This morning is bright with hazy sunshine promising more today after the 2.8 hours of strong sunshine yesterday.

The change to a westerly air flow, much weaker than yesterday, has also brought drier air with humidity at 08.00 reading 86%, the driest start to a day for a month.

Rainfall yesterday amounted to 1.2mm, bringing the total for October to 29.5mm, which is just 34% of the 33-year average.

Friday saw the welcome return of the sun with 4.83 hours of strong sunshine, after the remnant of cloud from the previous depression cleared by 10.00.

Winds gusted to 25 mph yesterday but this morning, as Storm Brian passes close by, a gust of 26mph was recorded just before 8am, the wind coming from a southerly direction.

Temperatures were below by day, with a minimum of 13.4C (-1.2C), and due to the thick cloud and breezy conditions overnight above average with a minimum of 10.6C, some 3.3C above the long-term average.

Another 5.9mm of rain was recorded yesterday bringing the monthly total to 28.2mm, being 33% of the 33-year average.

Update at 15.00

Maximum wind gust of 38mph at 11.51 today.

Thursday brought us another sunless day although there was a little brightness in the early afternoon.

The barometric pressure fell all day and rapidly early evening to a minimum of 994.9mb, the lowest for over a month as a deep depression travelled north-eastwards over eastern Wales.

The wind increased in strength, gusting to 32mph at 21.04, with increasing rainfall that amounted to 10.2mm making it the wettest day since 29th July. This brings the total for October to 22.4mm, still well below the October average of 86.4mm.

The thermometer rose above the average yesterday to a peak of 15.6C (+1C) and the minimum of 10.8C was 3.5C above the long-term average.

It is nearly a month since the wind came from a southeasterly direction, which veered into the west early this morning.

This morning the effects of the depression are still felt with gusty wind and intermittent rain falling from a thick, low cloud base.

Wednesday produced the coolest day this month when the thermometer struggled to reach 11.8C during daylight hours, almost 3C below the average. During the evening this lifted to 12.4C, still 2.2C down on the average.

It was a gloomy day with heavy cloud shrouding the tops of the Marlborough Downs producing thick mist with visibility falling in the afternoon as this thickened with visibility dropping to 400m as ‘hill fog’.

The wind was very light all day with the strongest gust registering just 11mph. Not surprisingly, the UV level at 0.6 was the lowest since 15th February.

Overnight, the thermometer stayed at 12.8C, the wind dropped out completely and the fog thickened with visibility falling to 200m.

However, just before 08.00 this morning the ‘hill fog’ began to move with visibility varying from 400m to 1100m.

There was just 1.1mm of precipitation in the past twenty-four hours, bringing the total for October to 12.2mm, being just 14% of the 33-year average for October.