The strong northeasterly on Sunday, that propelled the cool air from near Iceland and then travelled over Scandinavia, gave us a chilly day with the thermometer struggling to reach a maximum of 13.9C at 15.49. This was 3.4C below my long-term average and the coolest day since 18th April. The wind, gusting to 20mph, produced a wind chill so that outside it felt more than 1C cooler than that indicated on a thermometer. Under mainly clear skies the thermometer slowly edged downwards reaching a low of 1.5C at 05.37. This low was held for just 5 minutes before the temperature began to recover after sunrise, which was at 05.23 for Marlborough, when it began to edge back upwards.
Variable cloud greeted the new day on Monday although there was a clearer break in the cloud drifting in from the northeast just before 08.00 that lifted the temperature to 5.0C. However, more cloud then arrived around 08.30 on the brisk northeasterly breeze.
Wind chill will be a factor again today, often described as the ‘feels like’ temperature. The temperature, wind strength at a height of about 150cm (human height) and humidity are combined to produce a wind chill. These three items of data use a formula, which is not standardised, to calculate the effect of moving heat away from the body making it feel colder.
After two very dry months when the total combined rainfall was a significant 103.5mm below my 41-year average, May is continuing that trend. In fact, the high pressure is going to dominate our weather for this week and likely to have a reduced effect into next week so there is minimal chance of any substantial rainfall in the near future. During these two months we lost the equivalent of 130mm of rainfall through evaporation from ground sources and plant life that continues this month with another 15mm already lost.
The images for the next few days were taken at Malmesbury Abbey Gardens a few years ago.