Category: News

The lead up to the arrival of storm Doris was another cloudy and damp day yesterday with the modest winds dropping down in the afternoon. The thermometer rose to a maximum of 11.1C just after 2pm and also fell away before stabilising for most of the evening at 10C.
The wind strength began to pick up after midnight with a maximum gust of 39mph at 05.05 this morning. A cold front, associated with Storm Doris, passed over the area for a brief time between 7.00 and 7.15am this morning with very strong wind gusts and torrential rain, which at its peak was falling at a rate of 30mm/hour.
At this point the barometric pressure halted its downward fall, the wind abruptly veered from the south into the west and the thermometer registered a drop of 2C within a quarter of an hour levelling out at 8.1C when readings were taken at 08.00. Combined with the strong winds this gave a wind chill factor in that it felt more like 5C.

Update: Peak wind gust of 42mph at 10.34 this morning. 10 minute average wind speed of 14mph at 13.00. Record February gust was on 14th February 2014 with a maximum of 55mph.

Yesterday gave us another of the totally cloudy days we have endured this month with drizzle on and off and occasional light showers amounting to 1.5mm. This brings the total for February to 33.7mm when the mean is 65.5mm.
Overnight the cloudy conditions continued with the wind this morning beginning to pick up, maximum gust 25mph.
The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm is now the warmest since 10th December at 9.3C.

The tropical air pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 12.2C yesterday. This was the warmest day for two months but not a record as in February 2011 I recorded a maximum of 12.7C. There was a little brightness late morning but the cloud filled in after midday and the wind picked up with a gust of at 22mph at 15.19. Overnight there was light drizzle amounting to 0.4mm but a very mild night wth a minimum of 9.2C when the February mean is 1.3C.

The new slider images were taken at the Welford Estate, Berkshire

The tropical air that has covered the UK on recent days meant a maximum of 10.4C yesterday, which is 2.2C above the 33-year average for February. Sadly, it did not bring any sunshine but moist, calm air. Overnight the thermometer slowly dropped to a minimum of 8.8C before rising again to 10.3C just after 4.30 this morning. At the time of my readings this had dropped back to 9.8C. This is exceptionally warm weather for February.
This morning has dawned, as on so many days earlier in the month, with low cloud draping the Marlborough Downs and very moist, still air with humidity at 99% and visibility down to around 300m. It is the warmest morning since Christmas Day 2016.

Update at 18.30: Maximum 12.2C, warm but not exceptional.

Saturday brought us another spring like day, after the low cloud and mist started to clear around midday. It was another mild day with a maximum of 10.6C (mean is 7.2C), light winds again with a maximum gust of 13mph at 11.28 from a southerly direction and 1.2 hours of strong sunshine. Overnight cloud built up again so the thermometer rose from a minimum of 4.1C just after midnight to 7.1C at 08.00.