Category: News

The weather front (warm) that has been straddling the country for the past couple of days has fed moist, mild air on a southerly track. Yesterday the maximum was 8.6C, 2C above the mean, but unusually this temperature was maintained for nine hours, until late evening, when it fell a couple of degrees. The rainfall total for the past twenty-four hours was 5.9mm.
This morning has dawned, as yesterday, with low, thick cloud and drizzle. The temperature at 08.00 was 8.4C some 7C above the January mean minimum.

The thermometer slowly rose yesterday morning to a maximum of 4.8C, 2C below the mean, just before 1pm. This gradually melted most of the powdery snow that fell just before dawn. The strong north-westerly winds, gusting to 28mph, meant that there was a significant wind chill indicating that it was more like -4C. Sunshine yesterday totalled almost 2.3 hours. Overnight there was a slight air frost with a minimum of -0.8C at 02.47, but since then the temperature has risen above freezing to 1.C at 08.00.
Thankfully the wind has now abated and backed more into a westerly. This morning there is high cloud with light winds and the thermometer is slowly rising.

Another mild day yesterday with a maximum of 9.0C and almost three hours of strong sunshine. The early hours of today brought the coldest part of the night with a minimum of 3.4C just before 2am but with the advancing cloud the thermometer has risen to 4.1C at 08.00 today. The wind picked up late morning yesterday producing a maximum gust of 26mph just at 13.32.
Since midnight the barometer has been dropping, which heralds another change in the weather with thick cloud moving in from the west but with little wind at the moment.

The rainfall total so far this month is 16.3mm, which is just 18% of the long-term mean. The forecast rainfall today will be welcomed as the winter so far has been very dry, evidenced by the very low flow in the River Og and River Kennet.

Latest at 15.35
The wind abruptly veered from the south into the north just after 3pm, today the 12th.
First flakes of wet snow seen within the rain at 3.30. The barometer is still falling fast.

The maximum temperature over the past twenty-four hours was at 05.50 this morning, not during daylight hours yesterday, with the minimum of 6.6C occurring just after midnight. It was a day that brought 0.6 hours of strong sunshine after four overcast days.
The thermometer is at its highest this morning, for my 08.00 readings, since Christmas Day with a temperature of 9.0C. Also the barometer just before dawn reached a low of 1008.1mb, the lowest barometric pressure for two months.

After another dreary day with intermittent drizzle and light rain, totalling 1.3mm, late afternoon the sky began to lighten. As a result, the temperature dropped from a high of 9.2C, which is 2.3C above the mean, to a minimum of 1.9 very early this morning at 01.01 briefly giving a light ground frost. Since then the thermometer has recovered to 5.2C at 08.00.
Yesterday was the windiest day for over two weeks, after the recent very still conditions under the intense high pressure, with a maximum gust of 27mph just after 2pm. The barometric pressure was at its lowest just after midnight, at 1009.9mb, and is now rising. As a result the wind has veered into the west giving a brighter morning, if short lived, with much lower humidity, currently 92% after 99% for several mornings at 08.00.