There was a slow rise in temperature on Wednesday after a frosty start. However, the rise in temperature after around 18.00 was significant as warm air, brought to us on a southerly breeze from Iberia, lifted the thermometer from around 6C to a low of 9.6C at 01.30 early Thursday and a subsequent rise to 10.7C at 08.00 on Thursday morning.
The wind was strong throughout Wednesday with a peak gust of 35mph at 18.29 Wednesday evening during another three hours of steady rain. Another rain band arrived just after 01.00 Thursday morning bringing the daily rainfall total to 13.9mm. The monthly rainfall now stands at 87.0mm, which is 96% of the 35-year December average.
Thursday arrived with total cloud cover and rain again beginning to fall.
The ground temperature at a depth of 5cm read 8.9C at 08.00 on Thursday, the warmest the ground has been all month at that time.