Once again the bulk of the heavy rain was to the west of our area on Friday, with just drizzle observed during the afternoon at 16.50, also the automatic rain gauge was triggered at 03.15 early Saturday that indicted light showers for perhaps 15 minutes. The daily rainfall total was only 0.8mm, which took the monthly total to just 2.9mm against the 41-year average of 57.6m. With just 11 days to go in April I wonder if this month is following the pattern of the very dry month that we experienced in March?
The maximum of 13.3C on Friday, logged at 14.54 due to the cloudy skies with no sunshine, was 0.8C below my long-term average, only the second below average maximum this month. Not surprisingly, it has been a mild night thanks to the thick cloud cover minimising loss of any warmth into the atmosphere with the thermometer hovering around 9.5C for much of the early hours, which in fact was the minimum at 03.40, only rising to 9.6C by 08.00 Saturday.
Saturday dawned dull and grey with very light intermittent and short lived rain around 07.30. As the depression has relocated around the Bay of Biscay the breeze today will come predominantly from the west, a cool direction, possibly strengthening mid-morning, so no heat wave today, especially as there is little chance of sunshine due to the depression lurking close by throwing banks of cloud across the UK. The rain radar at 08.30 indicated a wider rain band heading our way during the morning but if the patten of previous days continues, this will thin and break up as it moves north across our area.
The depression is forecast to hang around for a couple of days, moving across France and eventually probably over the Netherlands by Monday. So the holiday weekend will bring mixed weather, sunshine and showers covers it.
The forecast track of the Jet Stream indicates that later in the week, perhaps from Thursday onwards, a small area of high pressure will develop over the UK, or at at least a ridge of high pressure, that will influence our weather with brighter conditions and slightly higher temperatures.