Category: Commentary

Th variable sunshine on Monday was so welcome after the nine gloomy days. The thermometer eventually rose to 11.8C being 1.5C above my long-term average, however, the clearer skies overnight allowed the warmth to dissipate into the atmosphere with the temperature falling away to minimum of 3.7C at 06.44 early Tuesday. It was a dry day and the UV peaked at a reading of 1.0, the highest since 31st October.

Tuesday brought a bright start to the new day as the cloud was high and thin but not totally clear. By 08.00 the thermometer had crept up to 5.1C.

Update at 13.00: the wind from north-northeast is gusting to 18mph and producing a wind chill so that outside it feels more like 7C rather the thermometer temperature of 9.9C.

The new anticyclone has a very high pressure with a reading of 1038.1mb early Tuesday, which is the highest pressure since 12th January. The centre of the high pressure is to the west, over Ireland, so the air circulating clockwise will bring a cooler air steam from the north-northeast or northeast and will bring mainly dry weather with variable cloud.

The first change in our weather pattern of late saw a gloomy Sunday morning but after midday the cloud began to thin and some brakes appeared with brief glimpses of small patches of blue sky, what a treat after the previous dull and gloomy days. As a result the thermometer rose to a maximum of 13.6C at 14.29 being 3.3C above my 40-year average and the warmest day since the 31st October. There was sufficient UV light to trigger the sensor, the first after three successive non-show days.

Further significant changes occurred in the early hours of Monday as a new high-pressure system developed over the UK. This resulted in the wind direction swinging into the west just before 02.00 then north an hour later. At 02.30 there was a brief rain shower amounting to 0.2mm and the strongest gust of wind all month occurred precisely at 02.34, peaking at 14mph. This activity with wind direction and brief rain was associated with a cold front moving down from the north. The temperature then began to slowly fall away reaching a minimum of 8.2C at 07.40, being 4.2C above my long-term average.

It was a glorious start to Monday as the cloud was much thinner and there was a very bright start to the new day, gone the nine days of gloom. The weather front is slowly moving southwards so the cloud should begin to thin with hopefully some welcome sunshine as the day progresses.

A new high pressure system has formed over the UK with its centre over Ireland and is likely to hang around for much of the week. The barometric pressure reading at 08.00 was 1035.8mb, the highest since the 1st February. The clearer skies will mean a much colder night ahead.

Saturday was the ninth consecutive day with thick, low cloud blocking out any sunshine that limited the temperature rise to 7.8C. In fact the thermometer was almost stationary all day at around 7.2C. The minimum temperature was logged at 00.59 early Sunday with a low of 6.1C after which the temperature began to reverse and rise again. There was little air movement although there was a significant change from east to west and south that saw the thermometer rise a degree overnight to reach 8.2C. It was another dry day with the UV level so low it did not trigger the UV sensor, the third consecutive occurrence.

Sunday brought another cloudy start to the day but the cloud was higher than recently being produced from a warm weather front crossing the country, the first for over a week, a significant change in our weather pattern. Any breeze will come mainly from the southwest today, a warmer direction, rather than from an easterly quadrant as in the past week.

The blocking high continued to keep the weather fronts at bay on Friday but maintained the dark, dull and gloomy conditions of thick, low cloud. The temperature fell away in the early hours of Friday stabilising around 7C for much of the day and night. A maximum of 7.4C was logged at 10.01 being the first below average peak since the 5th, which was 2.8C below my 40-year average. The minimum of 6.7C was logged at 07.14 early Saturday being 2.7C above average.

The past twenty-four hours has produced a minimal diurnal range, the difference between day and night extremes, of just 0.5C. For the third time in November the UV strength was insufficient to trigger the UV sensor.

Saturday first light revealed that the overcast conditions had not changed with low, thick cloud still in evidence. The air movement will be variable from the north and east but still minimal in strength. The air mass continues to be a little less humid with a reading of 93% at 08.00, the lowest this month.

The high pressure that has dominated our weather for the past week or so is still slowly declining that is allowing a weather front to very slowly edge in from the west. The forecast is for a modest improvement in light and UV strength Sunday afternoon.

Thursday was a repeat of the previous six days with the persistent thick, low cloud trapped under the anticyclone. The maximum of 10.6C, logged at 13.56, was slightly down on the previous day and just 0.3C above the long-term average. The past night was the coolest since the 1st with a minimum of 7.0C at 07.02 early Friday, which was 3.0C above the average.

There were occasions when very light drizzle was observed amounting to 0.4mm.

For the second day in November no UV light triggered the sensor, as on Sunday. Thursday managed to peak at 0.6, for a brief period.

The significant change on Friday morning was the absence of fog although the conditions were misty. The cloud was a little higher and significantly, the humidity at 08.00 was 96%, in the slightly drier air after 100% on Wednesday and Thursday morning at 08.00.

The anticyclonic gloom will be with us until Sunday when in the afternoon there is the possibility that the conditions will begin to improve with a distinct change in our weather on Monday. The barometric pressure is beginning to slowly fall, down 4mb since its peak, as the high pressure begins to decline, but still very high with a reading of 1027.1mb at 08.00 Friday.