Monday was a day best forgotten as regards the weather as it was dull, gloomy and cold all day. Under the persistent easterly wind, gusting to 20mph at its peak and with no sunshine the thermometer struggled to reach 6.6C at 15.26, which was a significant 4.1C below my long-term average and made it the coldest day this month. The brisk wind from the east meant wind chill was again in evidence that meant outside it felt almost 2C cooler than that indicated on a shielded thermometer.
Monday, under the gloomy, thick cloud produced a maximum solar radiation of just 251W/m2, being the lowest all month and the UV light, not surprisingly, was back into the ‘Low’ category at 1.7, the second lowest all month, the 10th logged peak UV at 1.6.
As expected under a clearing sky overnight, as the residual cloud from the two weather fronts eased southwards, the temperature dropped away reaching a minimum of 0.3C at 06.19 on Tuesday before the rising sun got to work. This low was 2.3C below average and although it produced a ground frost, as the thermometer did not drop below zero, there was technically no air frost.
Tuesday brought a glorious start to the new day with the red sun at sunrise beginning to shine strongly as it eased above the horizon, this lifted the thermometer to 3.2C by 08.00. As the anticyclone repositions over Germany the wind will veer a few more degrees from east to eastsoutheast as the day progresses, indicating that a change is getting closer, a much less cold direction.
It has been a very dry month with no rain expected until possibly the weekend as only 1.5mm of precipitation has been recorded. By contrast, the equivalent loss of rainfall through evaporation from ground sources and plant life now totals 24mm.