Monday 18th May
The first signs of a change in our weather were shown in the slightly warmer temperatures on Sunday with a maximum of 15.6C at 13.31 before cloud built up again, however it was still 1.7C below average but it was the warmest day since the 9th. Likewise, the overnight minimum of 7.2C, logged at 05.22 just after sunrise in Marlborough at 05.12 Monday morning, was higher. In fact it was 0.2C above average that made it the warmest night since the 10th.
The other quite clear evidence that the cold weather is on the way out is the temperature of the soil at a depth of 5cm, logged at 08.00, with 8.9C, 11.0C, 11.3C and 12.4C respectively for the last four mornings.
There was broken sunshine through gaps in the cloud first thing on Monday with the breeze now coming from a significantly different and warmer direction, the southwest. The low pressure to the west is now beginning to feed a warmer and more moist air stream across the country. By tomorrow there will be more of a southerly aspect to the breeze with likely significant rain in the early hours and a stronger breeze. The forecast surface charts indicate that by Thursday the low will give way to a high pressure over the Continent that will waft very much warmer air from Iberia with maximum temperatures getting well above average.
I will continue the series of images from Bowood House and Gardens in Wiltshire, which is only open for nine weeks during the flowering season. It is open this year until 7th June.
I recently came across this article from the Met Office that I thought might be of interest, part 2 tomorrow.
How the refreshed Met Office app is taking shape
Author: Met Office
Tue, 12 May 2026
You may have noticed our weather app has changed a lot this year, with a new design and various updates since it went live in January. So, what has been the process behind the refreshed app, what has changed since launch, and what’s coming next?
Here, we explain how we approach major digital updates, why listening to users is central to the process, and how this shapes the Met Office app as it evolves.
Moving on from legacy software
Since its launch in 2016, the previous version of the Met Office app kept millions of people safe and informed about the weather, from preparing for storms to planning day-to-day activities.
However, the technology behind the app had become increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, and feedback frequently highlighted a dated design.
The legacy infrastructure limited how quickly changes could be made and made it harder to deliver improvements users had been asking for. For example, the previous setup effectively required separate development for iOS and Android, meaning updates were slower, more complex and less flexible.
Refreshing the app allowed us to move away from those constraints. By rebuilding on modern technology, we’ve created a platform that enables faster updates, clearer design, improved accessibility and the ability to respond more quickly to feedback – while continuing to deliver the same trusted weather information.