Friday was a dull, dreary day with continuous cloud and no sunshine. However, the breeze from the west maintained the flow of warm, most air that raised the maximum temperature to 12.2C at 13.19 being 1.8C above my 40-year average. That thick duvet of cloud overnight meant a mild night with the thermometer not sinking below 10.3C at 06.45 early Saturday being a significant 6.3C above my 40-year average. The diurnal range of temperature was thus just 1.9C. It was a dry day.
Saturday revealed no change with a dull, dreary start to the day again under thick, low cloud. The pressure reading at 08.00 was 1031.1mb, the highest since 23rd October
The high pressure is drifting away to the east, currently its centre is heading towards Denmark and Germany. The dome of high pressure will continue to trap below it the moist air that is producing the thick cloud. A slight reposition means that any breeze will come from the east on Saturday but continue to be very light or calm for long periods.
October 2024 review
After a damp, dreary and very cool start to the new month an anticyclone developed to the north of Scotland that gave us two dry and sunny days on the 3rd and 4th.
The following week brought very wet conditions with considerable rainfall on the 6th to the 8th with 12.5mm, 10.6mm and a significant 23.9mm, respectively.
By the 9th there was a major change in the weather pattern as the wind veered int othe northwest and then north bringing a much cooler air stream that gave a maximum of just 11.7C on the 10th, which was the coolest day since 27th April. That was followed by a cold night that saw the thermometer drop to -0.4C producing not only a ground frost but the first air frost of the season.
A very wet and unsettled period arrived on the 12th with significant rainfall on several days. Three days brought us dull and dreary weather with continuous thick, low cloud and misty conditions, with little wind and fog on the 15th that limited visibility to 300 meters until late morning.
A large area of high pressure built and extended over the UK from the 22nd bringing dry and quiet weather with the breeze very light for several days. The peak barometric pressure occurred on the 23rd with a high of 1032.7mb, the highest since 17th September when the exact same peak was recorded. This anticyclone brought warm, moist air from Spain and the Bay of Biscay.
Another very large area of high pressure eased in from the Atlantic on the 29th bringing very calm, quiet weather. However, there was minimal sunshine because the air mass had travelled over extensive sea areas collecting moisture, which was trapped under the high-pressure dome. There were three days of minimal air movement with the maximum air movement of just 9mph.
The average temperature for the month was 0.3C above my 40-year average, principally due to slightly higher daytime peaks. It was the coolest October since 2020.
Once again, the monthly rainfall total was above my 40-year average with 101.6mm being + 10.6mm, however, it was the driest October since 2018. Only June and August in 2024 gave us below average rainfall totals. The rainfall total for the ten months of January to October stands at 972mm when the long-term average is 678mm.
Due to the numerus days with overcast skies, it was not surprising to find that the average UV level for the month of 1.9 was well below my fifteen-year average of 3.4. That means it was at the top end of ‘Low’ and not in the middle of the ‘Moderate’ category.