Friday 26th December – Boxing Day
The wind from the northeast made for a very cool Christmas Day, gusting to over 30mph at times, that produced a significant wind chill. The thermometer struggled to reach a high, which it was not, of only 3.9C at 13.32, being a significant 3.6C below average. This was in stark contrast to the 22 consecutive days this month when the maximum was above average, some days significantly. There was little variation in the temperature overnight, lifting a fraction after 22.00, when 2.0C was logged, to around 2.4C all night.
The diurnal range of temperatures, the difference between day and night extremes, was minimal, there was a variation of just 0.8C due to the persistent thick, low cloud. There was no sunshine by day to lift the temperature whereas by night the duvet of cloud minimised the loss of any possible warmth into the atmosphere.
Boxing Day struggled to arrive with the weather dark and gloomy but dry under the thick, low cloud cover again. The wind from the northeast persists, if, thankfully, less strong than on Christmas Day. Even so, this morning the wind chill is still evident so that with the thermometer reading 2.4C at 08.00, outside it feels more like 1.6C. The barometric pressure has varied little over the last three days with a reading of 1028.0mb at 08.00, still very high. There is little prospect of any sunshine for us today as the northeast wind, travelling over the North Sea, continues to pick up moisture and drag it across the country.
The anticyclone will continue to dominate our weather well into next week, relocating westwards from southern Norway to between Scotland and Iceland. This slight change in position, however, will mean little change in our weather with the persistent breeze from the northeast or east-northeast until Tuesday, when it will back a few degrees to come from a more northerly direction. The more significant change will be on Wednesday when the wind will back further to come from the northwest, a less cold direction, with maxima beginning to edge upwards towards the average for January of around 7C. At the moment there is little evidence of much precipitation, if any, over the next five days.