Category: News

After so many dreary, foggy and overcast days this month it was a treat to have 5.77 hours of strong sunshine yesterday making it the sunniest day this month. As a result, with virtually no wind, it pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 7.9C just after 2pm, average for December. There were periods when the air was calm with the maximum gust of just 9mph at 13.06. Frost set in overnight with the thermometer dropping to a low of -2.5C at 07.08 this morning.
The temperature this morning has recovered sightly to -1.6C at 08.00 with evidence of limited valley fog beginning to thicken and cloud to move in. It is interesting to note that the temperature, humidity and barometric pressure details at the time of reading today (08.00) are identical to those which were obtained yesterday.

Latest at 08.45: Fog (freezing) now thick with visibility down to 100m.

Yesterday was memorable for two weather related reasons. The thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of 1.4C at 13.30, which made it the coldest day since 12th December 2012 that registered a maximum of 1.2C. Fog was another feature that dominated the past twenty-four hours. There was fog at dawn that lifted only to return mid-morning with variable visibility but often down to 300m. During the evening this lifted to return before 11pm but had cleared at dawn today. One hour of strong sunshine was logged not surprisingly little wind movement occurred due to the high pressure with the strongest breeze recorded at 9 mph.
This morning is clear with a sharp frost as the thermometer reads -1.6C at 08.00.

The anticyclone continues to dominate with some hazy sunshine yesterday but with a maximum of 4.6C it was the coldest day since 13th February 2016. This low maximum was 3C below the mean maximum for December and led to a sharp frost overnight with a minimum of -2.4C at 08.00. Also noticeable were the long periods without any wind, in fact the strongest movement was just 5mph. The barometric pressure has changed very little from its peak yesterday morning, with a drop of just 2mb to 1042.7mb at 08.00.
Today dawned with drifting fog of variable visibility but by 09.40 it had cleared with the sun shining in a slightly hazy blue sky.
The fog returned mid-morning with viability down to 300m at times with the thermometer not moving into a positive figure until just before noon.

Due to the current mild weather there has been much in the media abut the warmest Christmas Day record temperature that was originally set at Killerton in Devon in 1920 at 15.6C. Yesterday the peak temperature of 12.1C was reached at 14.27. The December of 2015 was even warmer with a Christmas Day maximum of 13.4C and days before had reached 14.4C, which was the warmest December Day for 33 years in Marlborough. The mean maximum for December is 7.7C.
Overnight there was light rainfall adding to the shower late afternoon producing 1.1mm. The wind picked up during the afternoon yesterday but the peak of 23mph was recorded at just before 1am.
The barometric pressure is now rising rapidly heralding an intense high pressure system building over the UK producing much blue sky this morning as the temperature dropped to a minimum of 5.4C at 08.00. The wind has backed into a westerly direction bringing drier air and greater visibility.

Christmas Eve was dry with no sunshine and the wind rising a little during the afternoon. The peak gust was early this morning at 24mph as the wind backed from the south into the south east. The temperature dipped during the afternoon but has been rising slowly overnight to reach a peak of 9.9C at 08.00, which is 2C above the mean daytime and 8C above the mean night time temperature.
This morning is overcast with low cloud and moisture in the air, but not measurable.