Sunday 30th August
The depression that visited us on Saturday brought almost continuous precipitation, with light rain or drizzle and occasional bursts of heavier rain that amounted to 18.4mm. Thankfully we did not get the intense rain as in recent thunderstorms further north that has caused flooding and damage in many places. In fact it was ideal for gardeners as it slowly sank into the ground and will have begin to rejuvenate many plants that were still living. I now have five very full water buts!
The centre of the low pressure passed almost overhead with a minimum pressure of 999.8mb logged at 15.11, the lowest barometric pressure since 4th June. As the depression headed toward the North Sea the clouds broke up and the late afternoon sunshine lifted the temperature to a maximum of 21.7C at 18.05 being almost exactly average for August. The minimum of 14.4C was 2.6C above average, logged at 06.37, due to the broken cloud that had persisted overnight.
The total of 18.4mm made it the wettest day since the 1st June (28.0mm) and took the monthly total to 38.2mm being 53% of my 43-year record.
The sun struggled to rise above the cloud banks on the eastern horizon after dawn on Sunday, but not beginning to break through until just after 07.00, that had lifted the temperature to 16.1C by 08.00. There is a significant risk of shower activity again today. As the air heats up it expands and rises, being lighter, taking with it moisture that eventually condenses as it reaches cooler air, producing precipitation of various types. A thunderstorm warning has just been issued by The Met Office for a large part of central and southern England.
The next depression is currently over Ireland and will head northwards towards Iceland but not before pushing another weather front across the country today that will produce more cloud late morning with the possibility of light precipitation just before midday.
As this latest low pressure system departs, a temporary ridge of high pressure will nudge in from the southwest that will bring a couple of dryer days and squash out any shower activity. This can be seen developing today as the barometric pressure has already risen 10mb with a reading of 1010.2mb at 08.00, Sunday.