Tuesday 14th April
Monday was a less cold day with the thermometer rising to a peak of 13.3C late in the afternoon at 16.17, however, it was still below average for April at -1.0C. There was a light shower just before 14.00 that produced 0.4mm of precipitation. The past night has also been less cold with the thermometer dropping to 0.4C at 04.18 that gave us a brief ground frost but no air frost.
I felt a difference in the weather on Tuesday morning, the air felt less cold. That was due to a significant change in direction in the air stream arriving over the UK. Today a breeze will arrive from the southeast, originating near mid-atlantic and the Continent rather than near Iceland as on previous days. It has travelled around the southern flank of a new depression approaching the country that resulted in the temperature rising quickly after sunrise, reaching 6.1C by 08.00 and 8.2C by 08.30.
There is also a significant change in humidity with a reading of 96.2% at 08.00, the highest this month, at that time, due to the warmer and more moist air stream.
I think we have seen the last of the very cold nights and cool days, which will please all gardeners, who have a multitude of tender plants ready for transplanting into the garden. However, the soil is still too cold to plant seeds with a temperature of just 6.9C at a depth of 5cm, logged today at 08.00, far below a consistent 10C.
Wednesday looks to start very damp under a very moist air stream with possible drizzle and fog in the early hours as two weather fronts cross the country.
The rest of the week looks likely to be unsettled with rain at times and sunny intervals. High pressure will still be close to the UK on its eastern flank directing depressions northwards as the approach the UK, but not sufficiently high to dampen out any weather front resulting from the low-pressure systems.
The forecast surface pressure charts indicate that the Azores high might edge closer over the coming weekend resulting in drier and sunnier conditions, but that is quite a few days ahead for any confidence in the prediction.
It has been a very dry start to the month, now almost half way through, with just 7.2mm of precipitation, being just 13% of my 42-year record for April. The next few days is likely to see that total rise a little but probably not significantly.