Windrush Weather

Category: News

  • Coolest night for a fortnight

    Yesterday gave us another overcast and dreary day with little wind. Again there were periods with still conditions giving a maximum gust of just 7mph as the air was still, trapped under the intense area of high pressure. The maximum temperature reached was again lower at 6.4C, the first day below the mean, 1C, since 5th December. It was also a much cooler night with a minimum of 2.2C, just above the mean for December.
    This morning there is some valley fog that formed around dawn and fog from low cloud over the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest. As on previous days there is currently no wind although this is due to change as a weather front, bringing rain, moves in from the east later this morning.

  • Exceptionally still conditions

    The anticyclone developed further yesterday with a maximum pressure of 1039.4mb, the highest reading since March 2015. This produced an exceptionally still day with extended periods that produced just the briefest movement of air and a maximum of only 7mph. The temperatures have fallen a little for the fourth day with a maximum of 7.9C, close to the mean for December and a minimum of 4.4C that occurred just after 10am yesterday. This had risen to 5.9C at 08.00 today.
    The thick fog of yesterday took until after 1pm to slowly lift into mist from the low clouds and has thinned a little more this morning. The little breeze in evidence this morning would indicate that it has changed direction from a south-easterly, that has dominated for the past week, to come from a north-westerly direction.

  • Intense high pressure

    If your wall barometer is almost off the scale (high) it is indicating correctly. For the past twenty-four hours the barometric pressure has been rising rapidly, to the highest since April 2015, with a reading of 1037.0 at 08.00. With little wind, maximum gust overnight was 10mph, daytime 7mph, the stagnant air is trapped below the anticyclone. For long periods the air has been still. As a result thick fog has formed with visibility down to 100m this morning.
    Both maximum (9.4C) and minimum (5.3C) in the past twenty-four hours are down again but both still well above the mean for December.

  • Early mist and drifting fog

    Today has dawned with another overcast but mild day. There was a brief interlude at daybreak when the sky cleared and the temperature dropped, which temporarily caused mist and drifting fog to form. However by 08.00 the sky was again cloudy as the fog thinned.
    Yesterday the temperature was down on previous days with a maximum of 9.9C, still well above the mean for December. The overnight minimum occurred at 07.37 this morning with a low of 5.7C, also well above the mean minimum.
    It is still a relatively dry month as half way through December the total rainfall is 14.9mm with the 32-year average standing at 91.5mm.

  • Minimum higher than mean maximum for December

    Yesterday was another dull, overcast day with no sunshine and occasional showers that amounted to 1.2mm. However, the mild and moist air from the Azores meant another warm day with a maximum of 12.1C that is almost 5C above the mean. The temperature very slowly fell during the afternoon but by midnight was still above 10C. By 08.00 the thermometer read 8.1C, the lowest for the last twenty-four hours, which is 6C above the mean minimum for December and 0.5C above the mean maximum for December.
    The barometer now reads 1017.5mb, the lowest pressure this month as the anticyclone that dominated the early part of the month, very slowly declines allowing weather fronts to slowly cross the country.