The nearby anticyclone really began to dominate our weather on Friday that brought heat and humidity and saw the temperature rise to a maximum of 26.8C being 6.2C above my long-term average. The UV level of 7.9 for the second consecutive day was well into the ‘Very High’ category. Cloud cover overnight persisted and looking at the track on radar it indicated that it began to thicken around 05.00, which is why the minimum of 18.4C was a significant 8.2C above average and made it the warmest night since 13th August 2020 when a low of 19.4C was logged.
The heat factor, using the data of temperature, wind speed, humidity and solar activity, calculated that outside it felt more like 31.5C when the thermometer read 26.6C.
Saturday revealed low, thick cloud and thus no sunshine to greet the new day. The anticyclone has continued to build and dominant our weather with the barometric pressure reading of 1023.7mb at 08.00, up 10mb since Wednesday.
The forecast is for the heat to continue to build and peak on Monday, with Tuesday down a few degrees and the rest of the week much closer to July temperatures. It is likely that we will technically be experiencing a heatwave over the next three consecutive days as maxima are likely to equal or exceed 27C, which is the heatwave threshold for Wiltshire.
The image taken in 2015 is from St Peters Church tower in Marlborough, looking south with Savernake Forest in the background.