Thursday 9th October
Wednesday morning, until after 13.00, was very dull with low cloud that brought brief bouts of light drizzle from time to time that was not measurable. Just after 13.00 the cloud began to thin resulting in an increasing amount of sunshine that by 15.00 made it feel very warm in the very light breeze, shortly after the temperature rose to a maximum of 17.9C at 15.14. This high was 3.0C above average. The sky having cleared the last afternoon meant a cool night, much cooler than forecast, as the warmth steadily dissipated into the atmosphere leading to a minimum of 3.6C at 06.42, which was 3.8C below average and made it the coldest night since the 29th September.
Thursday arrived with weak sunshine to begin the new day through thin cloud on the eastern horizon that had lifted the temperature to 4.1C by 08.00.
The high pressure to the west of the Bay of Biscay is beginning to influence our weather as the pressure slowly rises. It has risen 4mb since yesterday, with a reading of 1027.6mb, at 08.00 making it the highest barometric pressure since 30th September and continues to rise steadily. This anticyclone is likely to dominate our weather up to and after the weekend resulting in calm conditions with variable cloud due to the air stream having travelled over the sea picking up moisture on its travels. However, by the weekend the wind direction will veer into a northeasterly quarter that will take the edge off the maximum temperatures but still peak around the average for October.
There has been a significant divide among forecasters recently. The Met Office is predicting “pleasantly warm” weather conditions for the majority of October, providing an alternative forecast after some meteorologists suggested most of the UK will face a biter 0c Arctic chill in the coming weeks.
The Met Office have just issued the following press release. A pioneering new space weather forecasting modelling suite will enable operational modelling of the upper atmosphere for the first time in a major breakthrough for the UK atmospheric science. They state ” This delivers a world-beating capability that provides greater confidence and forecasting skill than any models currently in operation anywhere else in the world – it’s about protecting the systems we rely on every day, from aircraft communications to GPS in your phone, space weather can affect us all.”
Marlborough Mop Fair. The ‘big’ Mop Fair will be held on Saturday 18th October.