Although the wind continued to arrive from the north east, the warmer airstream from the Continent pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 26.0C at 17.15. That peak was 5.3C above the 39-year average and the warmest day since 24th August. A gust of 24mph at 14.34 was the strongest gust since the 30th May.
The warmer airstream meant a mild night with the thermometer not sinking below 12.4C, which was 2.3C above the average and the first above average minimum this month.
Variable sunshine greeted the start of Saturday with the thermometer already reading 16.3C at 08.00.
The rate of evaporation has increased with the warmer air and strong breeze. For the last two days the equivalent loss of 4.5mm of rainfall has been lost to the atmosphere daily. So far this month the total evaporation has been 33mm.
Update at 17.30: a classic Line of Convergence was seen on the radar screens this afternoon as the hot, moist air from the Continent, brought on a southwesterly air stream, met the colder, drier air from the northeast, that had been plaguing our area for three weeks. The warm, moist air, being lighter, rose above the colder air mass and rapidly condensed forming storm cells that brought the first rain drops at 15.10. Further cells developed to the southeast and moved northwestwards across our area, due to the wind veering from northeast to southeast, with heavy rain from 15.40. A total of eight thunder claps were heard during this period
The showers, sometimes very heavy, produced 9.3mm of very welcome rainfall forthe gardens and filled three of my 220litre water buts. The rain eased and ceased at 17.05 and the sun began to reappear, weakly at first.
During the storm period the air temperature fell precisely 10C from 29.9C to 19.9C. The thermometer began to rise again at 17.05.