Tuesday 26th August
Monday gave us a Bank Holiday day to remember when the temperature soared to 27.5C at 15.51, under very strong sunshine aided by a drift of very warm air from the hot Continent on a southerly breeze that was brisker than recent days. This high was 5.4C above the last August average and the hottest day since the 15th (28.4C). The UV level rose to a value of 5.3, the highest for a week being at the top end of ‘High’ whilst the day was the fourteenth consecutive dry day.

The past night was initially clear but cloud began to drift in from the west just after midnight that limited the drop in temperature to a minimum of 15.0C at 04.39 being 3.8C above average.

First light on Tuesday revealed a cloudy sky. I did observe one brief glimpse of weak sunshine at 06.28 that appeared through a small band of thinner cloud on the eastern horizon. However, shortly after 06.30 the first few drops of rain in a fortnight fell from the cold front crossing our area. The weather front is a narrow, fragmented band that produced a few drops but did no fully wet the hard surfaces but it was followed by low cloud and light drizzle that masked the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest limiting visibility to around 1,000m, that amounted to 0.2mm by 08.15.

The remains of ex-hurricane Erin have been absorbed into the depression between Ireland and Iceland that has seen its centre pressure rise from 966mb yesterday to 981mb forecast at 12.00 today, a significant rise. Our local barometric pressure has seen a significant fall of 10mb over the past twenty-four hours as the recent anticyclone has split and moved across to Scandinavia and another over Turkey whilst the depression moved closer.

The next few days will bring is changeable weather as the anticyclone edges closer with much more rain likely on Wednesday from a. more vigorous and wider weather front.