Sunday 15th March
The modest breeze from the northwest and many hours of sunshine on Saturday resulted in the greatest loss of equivalent rainfall from the ground and plant sources, through evaporation, since 30th September, totalling 2.0mm. The northwesterly breeze, originating near Iceland, was from a cool direction hence the maximum of 11.1C at 15.15, being just 0.3C above average. The temperature slowly fell away during the evening reaching 1.1C at 21.50 before hovering around that temperature until after 05.00 when the early morning sunshine lifted it to 6.3C by 08.00.
Sunday began with glorious sunshine, weak and intermittent at first through broken cloud. However, cloud is already encroaching from the west, thanks to a weather front arriving from the Atlantic, that will obliterate the sunshine mid-morning and is likely to produce light rain towards midday.
We are likely to see much more cloud on Monday and Tuesday before a high pressure system just east of the Azores begins to dominate our weather with much sunshine and higher temperatures, from Wednesday for a couple of days. Sadly, as that anticyclone repositions, it will result in the wind beginning to arrive from the east with maxima returning to near average again and more cloud.
Part 2 of Met Office article on Weather apps.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park, has joined in calls for changes as the issue was resulting in a huge drop in visitors.
Ben Supple, of the RZSS, said: “During the school holidays this can reduce visitor numbers at Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park by 2,000 people and cost our charity up to £40,000 in a day, which is enough to feed all our penguins for more than a year.
Attractions have now urged the Met Office, government and major weather app developers to explore practical improvements.
They suggest separate daytime and overnight weather icons, clearer written summaries such as “showers early, brighter later” and indicators showing the proportion of expected dry hours.
Olly Reed, marketing director at tourism consultancy Navigate, which works with more than 50 UK visitor attractions, said it tracked attendance patterns against forecast weather data.
He said: “The picture is consistent – when an unfavourable weather icon appears, visits can drop by an average of around 30%.
“This is reflective of analysis across a diverse portfolio of heritage sites, gardens, zoos and theme parks.
“Bookings don’t just shift with the weather itself, they shift with how that weather is framed.