Category: News

We usually associate high pressure with fine, sunny weather. However, the anticyclone currently sitting over the UK, high yesterday of 1035.4mb, was described this morning by a Meteorological Office presenter as a dirty’ high being ‘contaminated with much cloud’. We did see short glimpses of sunshine yesterday morning with 0.98 hours.
This morning the low, thick cloud is still present. With just 31.3mm of rainfall to date and with no rainfall in the forecast, October 2016 is currently the driest October in the last 33 years.

After the fog lifted yesterday we enjoyed 3.0 hours of strong sunshine. The total number of hours of strong sunshine this month already totals 90, which is far more than in 2015 and 2014 that had 72 and 66 hours respectively. This instrument was only installed in early 2014 so there is no long-term data with which to compare this total for 2016. The south-westerly breeze has brought mild air that with cloud cover overnight, meant a minimum of 10.5C, which is 3C above the 33-year mean minimum.
This morning has dawned with thick cloud and the anticyclone has intensified with a high of 1032.9mb.

The cloud did lift yesterday with just a glimpse of brightness but another dry day, the nineteenth this month. The rainfall for October to date is 31.3mm but the equivalent moisture that has evaporated from ground sources and plant life is 29.0mm, so virtually no rainfall has started to percolate into the aquifers
The intense anticyclone has settled close to the UK giving a maximum reading of 1031.6mb this morning, the highest pressure since 14th March, and as a result of the very light breeze fog has formed overnight with minimum visibility at dawn down to 200m.

The low cloud we have endured for the past few days did break yesterday giving just 0.36 hours of strong sunshine but more noticeable was the return to average temperatures with a maximum 14.6C, the warmest day for a week. The barometer has been rising for two days as the high pressure exerts its influence with the calmest day all month giving a maximum gust of just 9mph.The last time we had such a calm day was July 18th.
In the early hours of this morning the light breeze changed direction from a persistent northeasterly to a southwesterly. Consequently the thermometer did not drop below 10.1C overnight.

Yesterday turned out to be a miserable day with low cloud and light rain on and off all day totalling 5.3mm. It is turning out to be a very dry October with a total of 31.3mm so far when the mean for the last 33 years is 88.1mm. The maximum temperature was only 10.9C, which was 4C below the mean for October. The persistent low cloud meant that there was no sunshine for only the second day this month. Not surprisingly the UV level was extremely low, the lowest since March 9th this year.
This morning the low cloud and mist is still evident although this has meant a slightly warmer night with the thermometer not dropping below 7.8C, just above average.