Category: Commentary

Saturday brought us rapidly changing conditions as after a very sunny morning heavy showers arrived from three bands of rain producing 3.0mm of precipitation.

The total hours of strong sunshine amounted to almost 6 hours.

A maximum of 17.5C at 15.04 made yesterday the second coolest day this month being 1.2C below the 33-year average.

The wind was gusting during the heavy showers with a maximum gust of 25mph at 16.07, making it the windiest day this month and since 19th August.

With clearing skies the thermometer steadily fell overnight to a minimum of 5.8C, the coldest night since 20th May being 3.5C below the September average.

The below average day and night temperatures have meant that warmth has slowly radiated from the ground as at 08.00 this morning the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm gave a reading of 10.3C, the lowest since 11th May.

Fog briefly formed in the River Og and Kennet valleys but quickly evaporated as the early sunshine slowly lifted the temperature.

There was brief bright sunshine shortly after dawn but thick cloud quickly spread across from the west around 7.30 am.

The intermittent rain, heavy at times relented just after midday on friday, amounting to 3.6mm. This brings the total for September to 14.8mm with six successive wet days.

The welcome strong sunshine of 3.57 hours in the afternoon boosted the temperature to a maximum of 18.1C, which was 0.6C below the September average.

The UV levels this week have been at the lower end of ‘High’ but yesterday only reached into the ‘Moderate’ level.

The barometric pressure bottomed out just after midnight with a low reading of 996.2mb, the lowest reading since 29th June.

It was a very cool night with a minimum of 8.5C at 02.23 this morning, after which time the temperature rose a couple of degrees so that at 08.00 the thermometer was reading 10.8C.

Although breezy, with gusts to 20 mph late afternoon, thursday was a pleasant day with the maximum of 18.5C just off the average and up 0.4C on wednesday. There was much brightness and 0.83 hours of strong sunshine.

The cloud overnight menat a mild night with the thermometer not dropping below 13.7C, which was 4.3C above the average for September.

Light showers occurred around 3am and heavier bursts started just before 6am, amounting to 2.4mm.

The wind has been dropping out for the last five hours being light at dawn with heavy cloud and light drizzle in the air at 08.00.

The barometric pressure has been falling for the last 30 hours, now at its lowest since 28th June with a reading of 1001.1mb, heralding a more disturbed period.

Wednesday was a lovely early autumn day with 5.57 hours of strong sunshine and no rain.

The maximum of 18.1C was just below the average for September with a minimum of 10.0C just above.

Hazy sunshine greeted the new day.

Tuesday was plagued by frequent bands of light rain and drizzle from a wide and slow moving weather band. The rainfall total of 1.1mm was modest but it meant a largely wet day. Late afternoon there were a couple of breaks in the thinning cloud that meant the day finished on a brighter note with 41 minutes of strong sunshine. The maximum of 18.6C was average for September.

Early evening the cloud broke up and we enjoyed a clear sky with a bright, full moon. At this time the high humidity experienced all day, around 93%, dropped into the lower 80’s as the wind veered from the south into the west just after 7pm.

The temperature dropped away until 02.05, with a minimum of 10.6C, when some transitory cloud meant that the temperature lifted a couple of degrees. This minimum was 1C above the 33-year average for September.

Dawn arrived with a cloud sheet that started to break up after 7am with strong sunshine bringing alive the sunshine recorder just after 8 am.