Thursday 17th September
As forecast, broken cloud began to drift across from the northwest on Wednesday, from mid-morning, that restricted the sunshine and the limited the rise in temperature to a maximum of 19.7C at 13.57, which was just 0.7C above my September average. It was a dry day, however, more substantial cloud be seen arriving after 19.30 that minimised the loss of warmth into the atmosphere resulting in a mild night with a minimum of 12.8C at 01.56. The cloud was associated with three weather fronts arriving in the early hours that had become fragmented and thinned depositing just 0.3mm of light rain that triggered the automatic rain gauge at 06.25. Light drizzle was also observed at 08.00 when I read the outdoor instruments.
Thursday struggled to arrive under a cover of thick cloud from the three weather fronts that will take much of the morning to clear with hopefully some sunshine appearing through the breaks in the cloud before midday. The air stream from the west will mean the peak temperature today will be around the average for September but noticeably windier as the deep depression to the northwest begins to influence our weather. The barometric pressure has fallen 10mb since Wednesday, hence the more unsettled conditions and the increase in wind speed.
Friday is likely to be a dry and fine day as the forecast charts indicate no weather fronts crossing the country, however, they will make a return for Saturday that is likely to be a cloudy day but probably dry.
Looking further ahead, the forecast pressure charts indicate that the high pressure to the southwest might push a ridge across the country from Monday that will see the return of the sun and temperatures rising again and possibly a degree or two above average. There is hope that next week could herald a pleasant warm and dry late summer period.
The rainfall for the month to date is just 22.1mm compared to my 43-year average of 67.2mm with next week looking predominantly dry. By contrast, the equivalent loss of rainfall this month due to evaporation from plant life and the ground amounts to 32.5mm, currently averaging around 2mm a day.