Tuesday was the coldest day of the month, also since 18th February, as the Arctic air dominated our weather. The maximum of just 8.1C logged at 14.31 was 2.6C below average, however, the wind chill from the brisk northeasterly wind, gusting to 19mph at its peak, meant outside it felt up to 2C colder.
The intermittent sunshine gave us the peak solar radiation of the month, with a high of 715W/m2 at 13.13, before cloud became more consistent, so the sun is getting stronger, but it didn’t feel like it! Any warmth slowly dissipated into the atmosphere as the late afternoon and early evening progressed but after reaching a low of 1.3C at 20.08 the thermometer did an about turn and started to climb back up as a large sheet of cloud drifted down from the north, reaching 3.9C at 00.01. The temperature then began to fall again to reach a minimum of -0.7C at 05.51, being 3.4C below average and producing a short lived air frost.
The UV level rose to its highest at 2.6, but still at the top end of ‘Low’.
Wednesday began with high broken cloud but no early sunshine until after 08.30, although bright. The breeze today will be lighter so minimal wind chill.
The cooler days and nights have seen the cold seep back into the ground again with a temperature at 08.00 reading 8.2C, 5.9C and 2.7C today respectively from the thermometer 5cm deep in the soil. The maximum daytime temperatures also show the effects of the Arctic air with 17.4C, 12.8C and 8.1C yesterday respectively.
The cold air still streams down from the north between the high, now over Iceland, and the low over Continent, with the wind veering from northwest to north today and possibly back to northeast later.
N.B. Please ignore the maximum gust of wind of 83mph, given in the live weather data panel, supposedly logged at 00.18, it didn’t happen! Occasionally there is a glitch in the 5 second automatic download. I am still waiting for Davis to provide a method for me to access and correct such glaring anomalies, as also are others.