Monday 8th September
For most of the daylight hours on Sunday heavy rain and thunderstorms ran northwards to the west of our area, but very close to us, as they passed over Devizes and the edge of Calne. There was a brief shower at 10.45 that amounted to 1.0mm, which took the monthly total to 42.2mm set against my 41-year average of 66.9mm. The sun returned late morning that resulted in a maximum of 21.6C logged at 14.09, before cloud returned from a cold weather front, thanks also to a run of southerly air from the Continent, the peak temperature being 2.6C above average. The cold front passed over during the afternoon that unfortunately meant the thinning cloud from the back edge of the front obscured the ‘Corn’ moon and the ‘Blood’ moon. The clearing sky overnight allowed the thermometer to drop back but a minimum of 9.7C at 06.50, just after sunrise in Marlborough at 06.30, was 1.0C above average. The peak solar activity and UV level were the lowest this month due to the afternoon cloud cover.

Monday began with hazy sunshine through thin high cloud. The high pressure is still exerting its influence over the UK, the pressure having risen 9mb since Sunday with a reading of 1015.9mb at 08.00. As a result it is keeping further weather fronts to the west as the depression eases towards Iceland. We should have another fine day on Tuesday but the forecast charts show a couple of depressions mid-Atlantic attempting to make a move towards the UK around midweek.

I mentioned yesterday an article I had read about a new weather satellite that was launched recently from which I include more information. Though it has only been in space for three weeks, MetOp-SG-A1s instruments are already up and running. The Microwave Sounder pulls in data on temperature and humidity from different layers of the atmosphere that has superior resolution than previous instruments and more capabilities. Instead of the 48-mile resolution of older models, the new version can zoom in at about 12miles (19 kilometres). That kind of details helps spot smaller weather patterns and track them more precisely.

I continue the sequence of autumnal images from the National Trust property of Stourhead, which is one of the most famous gardens in the English landscape garden style, near Stourton and Warminster in Wiltshire.