Saturday 18th April
The cold front dawdled and fragmented on its way across the country on Friday, that resulted in a very pleasant, sunny and warm day with the thermometer rising to a maximum of 17.3C at 15.29. This high was 3.0C above average and made it the warmest day since the 8th (24.1C). In addition, the UV level rose to its highest since 6th September, with a value of 5.0, putting it in the ‘High’ category, but we are only two months away from the longest day. Cloud began to build mid-afternoon, ahead of the cloud front, that produced rain beginning just after 19.00 and totalled 2.6mm. The back track of the cloud on the radar showed it clearing just after 23.30, which coincided with the temperature trace beginning to fall away resulting in a minimum of 4.8C at 06.16 early Saturday.
Saturday began with welcome sunshine that had lifted the temperature to 8.8C by 08.00. The barometric pressure has been slowly rising since 16.00 on Friday, and will continue to rise, as the high pressure builds across the country, which will squash out any advancing weather fronts.
As the centre of the high pressure builds over the weekend, and then drifts slowly northwards over the next few days too settle between Iceland and Scandinavia, the wind will veer into the north on Sunday and then towards the Northeast and east from Monday. This will bring a much cooler air stream originating from around Iceland before travelling over Scandinavia around the eastern flank of the anticyclone.
I am not sure it will be wall to wall sunshine under the higher pressure as the air will have travelled over the North Sea, which is cold at this time of year, picking up moisture on its travels. The temperature of the North Sea is currently 7C to 10C. Temperatures by day will be dropping close the April average followed by chilly nights. Being close to the centre of the anticyclone will mean that we are not likely to experience strong winds, relatively calm conditions, that of course exacerbates the drop in temperature at night when the wind falls out under clear skies. Gardeners must be aware that the temperature will fall close to freezing in the early hours of Sunday and Monday, lowest likely just before dawn before the sun gets to work.
It is bluebell time so the images into next week will be from West Woods near Marlborough. I quote from the Forestry England website:
West Woods is a beautiful ancient woodland site.
The woodland becomes very popular in late spring due to the fantastic displays of bluebells which carpet the forest floor in certain areas.