Thaw set in on Saturday – Sunday is the warmest morning for a fortnight

With the temperature on Saturday rising above freezing a gradual thaw began.

Overnight the wind fell out for several hours, before and after midnight, but just after 2.30am the breeze picked up and backed from the persistent northeast to southeast. The air now is coming from around the Bay of Biscay and much warmer than the Siberian air mass of last week.

Gentle rain starting just after 5pm on Saturday that gave 2.0mm of precipitation. This brings the total for March to 20.6mm.

Due to the drifting snow in the strong winds, little snow fell into the rain gauge. On such occasions the ‘core’ method of estimating precipitation was used. The rain gauge is inverted and inserted into three areas of snow that have not drifted nor where the wind has left the surface virtually bare. The snow core is then captured in the gauge by putting a slim flat surface under the gauge but at ground level. The snow that is collected is placed in a receptacle that is gently melted in a bowl of warm water with the total precipitation divide by three to get an average reading.

Sunday has dawned cloudy and much milder with the thermometer at 08.00 reading 5.1C, the warmest morning for a fortnight. The sky is cloudy with a gentle breeze.

Sunday update at 16.00: maximum of 9.2C, warmest day for two weeks

Sunday evening at 20.00: temperature sinks to 4.1C before next rain band arrives at 19.55.

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