Wednesday 29th July
The heat was intense on Tuesday and slowly built throughout the morning and into late afternoon resulting in a maximum of 29.7C at 17.09. This peak was a significant 6.8C above my long term average and in fact was 2.7C above the heatwave threshold for Wiltshire. Thankfully, the considerable warmth did slowly dissipate overnight, although at midnight the thermometer still registered 20C, but eventually fell to a minimum of 12.8C at 05.51, just after the sunrise in Marlborough at 05.26. The breeze fell out just after midnight resulting in calm conditions until just after 08.00 when the anemometer very lazily began to rotate, registering 1mph!
The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm, read daily at 08.00, has been rising again under the intense heat with 20.9C, 22.2C and 22.3C this morning respectively, over the last three days. As a matter of interest I read the temperature at 20.00 last night a it read 28.2C.
Wednesday began where Tuesday left off with strong sunshine as soon as the sun decided to rise above the horizon that had lifted the temperature to 20.2C by 08.00, making it the warmest start to a new day at that time since the heatwave, back on the 11th. The intense heat will return today with the peak rising well above the heatwave threshold but will not be an official heatwave as by tomorrow it will be a cooler day and not reach 27C, thankfully.
I had been a little confused as to why we had been getting intense heat from a breeze coming in from the southwest recently, originating in the Atlantic. I learnt last night that there has been a large pool of tropical water in the North Atlantic, to the west of the UK, that has been influencing the high temperatures and the air flow.
The Azores high will begin to elongate to the north today and tomorrow that will see the breeze come from a more westerly and northwesterly direction as it tracks around its northern flank, that will mean peak temperatures will fall below the heatwave threshold but still several degrees above the July average. The area of high pressure over eastern Europe, combined with its mate to the west, will continue to thwart weather fronts pushing down from the depression near Iceland, the front forecast tomorrow will fizzle out on its journey south.
The Savill Garden is an enclosed part of Windsor Great Park in England, created by Sir Eric Savill in the 1930s. It is managed by the Crown Estate and charges an entrance fee. The garden includes woodland, ornamental areas and a pond. The attractions include the New Zealand Garden, the Queen Elizabeth Temperate House and trees planted by members of the Royal Family. In June 2010, a new contemporary rose garden was opened by Queen Elizaberh 11.