Heat intensifies

Friday saw the thermometer rise to 31.7C at 13.34 making it the hottest August day since the August record set for this station on 1st August 1995 when 31.8C was recorded. Just after 13.15 cloud began to drift in from the west when the temperature began to slowly fall away. This peak was 10.7C above the 36-year average and the hottest day since 31st July when 32.9C was recorded. The heat has been brought from North Africa on a plume 700 miles wide.

Fortunately the clearer skies overnight meant that the thermometer drifted downwards to reach a minimum of 15.7C at 05.53 allowing some of the heat to dissipate before the sun got to work again on Saturday. There was a little radiation mist in the River Og valley after dawn that quickly evaporated.

A large bank of cloud initially obscured the sun after dawn but at 06.25 the sun rose above the back edge of the cloud bank and by 08.00, when records were taken, the thermometer read 19.8C indicating another hot day ahead. The soil is now holding on to much of the daytime heat with the ground thermometer at a depth of 5cm reading 21.1C at 08.00.

Update on Saturday at 16.42: brisk north easterly breeze and variable high cloud limited peak temperature to 29.0C at 16.40, down 2.8C on Friday’s maximum.

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