The cold air from the Ukraine and Black Sea area continued to be blasted across the region on Monday from the north east with the wind often gusting well over 20mph and a maximum gust of 29mph. The thermometer very slowly moved upwards and reached above freezing for just over half an hour with a maximum of only 0.4C at 14.07, which was the coldest day since 1st February 2019 (0.5C). However, much colder days were recorded on 6th and 19th December 2010 when the thermometer did not rise above -2.2C.
The significant feature during the past twenty-four hours has not only been the wind strength but the wind chill factor. Monday began with it feeling outside more like -5C and at the less cold part of the day was still registering -2.5C. Very light snow flurries occurred frequently during daylight hours but not measurable so recorded as a trace. Some areas of thin lying snow melted away in the 1.8 hours of sunshine and later, when the sun disappeared, under the effect of solar radiation.
Overnight the thermometer to -2.9C at 03.45.
At 08.00 on Tuesday the thermometer registered -2.2C and wind chill of-4.2C. By 09.00 the cloud was showing signs of thinning with breaks occurring that allowed brief bright intervals to occur. After a lull in the wind strength in the early hours by 09.00 it had picked up again but not quite as strong as on Monday. The cold is now penetrating deep into the ground with a temperature of -0.7C at a depth of 5cm.
