There was a great improvement in the warmth on Friday as the thermometer reached a maximum of 18.9C late in the afternoon at 16.40 being 1.6C above my long-term average it was also the warmest day since the 2nd (23.7C). The significant change was in the direction of the wind that during the afternoon veered a few degrees from the cool northeast, after crossing the cold North Sea, to come from the southeast, which cut off the flow of cool air with that from the Continent having travelled over land being comparatively warmer. Although the past night saw another below average minimum of 5.4C (-1.6C) at 05.30, it was the equal coolest since the 3rd May.
Saturday saw welcome sunshine from the beginning of the new day in clear blue skies. The anticyclone continues to edge away, a drop of another 2mb since yesterday, but still playing a major influence in our weather with another dry and very sunny day ahead. The drier air from the Continent gave a humidity reading of 73% at 08.00, the lowest humidity reading since the 4th, whilst the thermometer had risen to 12.6C by that time making it the warmest start to a new day since the 2nd.
The low pressure system that I mentioned yesterday, positioned over Iberia and the Bay of Biscay, is likely to slowly edge our way over the next day or two with the likely position over the English Channel tomorrow. As a result, being so close to the UK, it could begin to throw cloud and possible rain over southern England on Monday.
I mentioned the lack of recent rain yesterday. Since the 1st April there have only been five days with any precipitation, four of those being of minimal quantity. This year is the driest March to April period I have recorded since the station was started in 1984 with just 17.4mm. Looking back over the records I found that the year 2011 was the previous driest March and April spell with only 18.1mm, however, by comparison in 2023 I recorded 239mm of precipitation.
Looking at the data on the Thames Water website I see that the ground water state from several boreholes is normal for our area although five out of the seven report the level is falling.
I noted yesterday that several water companies are begin to make plans in case the very dry spell continues into the summer.