Tuesday 28th April
Monday gave us a gloriously sunny and warm start to the new day, I even sat outside to drink my early coffee under almost calm conditions. The wind was light, that combined with the strong sunshine, lifted the temperature to a maximum of 21.3C at 15.02, being a significant 7.0C above my long-term average. Variable cloud had begun to drift across just before 15.00 and slowly built late afternoon to produce total cover by 17.30. The minimum of 7.1C was logged at 02.18 being 3.2C above average.
The arrival of the cooler, cloudier weather was due a mini warm front thanks to a disturbance mid-atmosphere that did bring shower activity to the east of Marlborough, I noticed that shower activity reached Reading at 18.00, but much petered out as the front moved south across the country.
Tuesday arrived with such a contrast to Monday. The back track of the radar showed very low cloud drifting across from the northeast arriving just after 05.00 and small areas of very light precipitation, in fact drizzle, was observed after 06.00. By 07.30 the sky was beginning to brighten. The wind strength picked up during the early hours of this morning that is now producing a modest wind chill. The forecast is for the cloud to eventually move off to the west around midday leaving a dry and brighter afternoon. The total precipitation was 0.2mm, which will soon evaporate in the very strong northeasterly that has arrived, with a gust of 20mph at 07.42.
We have three days ahead with the wind coming from the northeast, that will be strong and gusty, especially on Wednesday. A significant pressure gradient has developed between the high pressure sinking further south across the UK whilst coming up against the low pressure over Iberia. However, temperatures by day and night are forecast to be above average up to the weekend when the recent fine and dry conditions come to an end with unsettled conditions arriving – just in time for the bank holiday!
My tulips have produced a magnificent show this past month so I will attach various images that are bright and colourful, but they are not mine, being taken at Malmesbury Abbey Gardens a few years ago, under sunny and calm conditions.