Month: March 2022

Wednesday was the coldest night since 7th March. The wind had backed further varying between north and north-east bringing very cold air that restricted the maximum temperature to 8.8C being 1.7C below average, the first for three weeks.

During the evening there were very brief, light rain showers that amounted to 0.5mm. That brought the monthly total to 43.3mm, being 16mm below the 38-year average.

Overnight the thermometer fell steadily to reach a minimum of -0.3C at 06.45 on Thursday. Due to the strengthening wind over the past three hours, and from the north, this produced a wind chill so outside it felt more like -3.4C.

Thursday saw brief sunshine after sunrise but just before 08.00 cloud drifted in from the north obliterating the sun. By 08.00 the thermometer struggled to reach 0.7C with wind chill making it feel more -3.1C. However, just before 08.30 there were breaks in the cloud allowing brief sunny intervals.

A high pressure system is attempting to nudge in from the Atlantic so the Barometric pressure, having reached a low point at midnight of 1007.4mb, recovered sightly to 1009.6mb at 08.00.

Update at 10.10: fine snow began to fall for ten minutes in strong breeze at 10.06. Temperature 1.9C but wind chill feels more like -2.0C outside

With a maximum of 12.0C on Tuesday it was the coolest day since 16th March but still 1.5C above the 38-year average. As the anticyclone eased away the wind backed from east into the northeast and strengthened with a maximum gust of 20mph.

It was the thirteenth consecutive dry day with the monthly rainfall total still standing at 42.8mm being just 72% of the 38-year average.

The past night brought no frost as the temperature did not sink below 5.6C at 06.45 on Wednesday, which arrived with thick cloud obscuring any sight of the sun.

The evidence of the departure of our almost resident anticyclone was noted as the barometric pressure began to fall steadily in the past twenty-four hours with the muted sunshine obscured in the afternoon as cloud drifted from the south.

The thermometer rose to 15.5C in the daytime, 5C above average, but did not drop below 9.1C overnight thanks to the thick cloud that arrived providing a duvet to keep residual warmth. This low was 6.8C above the average giving the warmest start to a day at 08.00 since 22nd February.

Tuesday early saw light drizzle that was not measurable, and thick, low cloud. The barometric pressure has dropped 23mb since its peak with a reading at 08.00 of 1012.9mb.

On Sunday, due to early morning fog that drifted in after 09.00 and didn’t completely clear until midday, produced the coolest day in the past week with the temperature also influenced by the wind continuing to come from the east if modest in strength.

The temperature overnight fell to exactly 0C at 06.01 on Monday morning that after first light revealed that thick fog had developed limiting visibility to 150m.

The anticyclone that has been with us for eleven days is forecast to drift quickly away from the southern North Sea to Russia by midday. The wind will continue to come from the east and be light. The barometric pressure has dropped another 7mb since yesterday and 20 mb since its peak.

The wall to wall sunshine from our resident anticyclone continued on Saturday that saw the thermometer rise to 17.7C being 7.2C above the 38-year average. The breeze strengthened during the morning and veered into the east. The UV level rose higher again to a value of 3.6, which is in the middle of ‘Moderate’ strength band.

The last night was not so cold with a minimum of 4.2C, so no air or ground frost.

Sunday saw the red sun slowly rose above the easier horizon promising another sunny and dry day, which wd be the eleventh consecutive dry day.

The equivalent loss of rainfall through evaporation from ground sources and plant life amounted to 2.72mm. The monthly evaporation now amounts to 35mm when the rainfall is just 42.8mm.

The ground temperature at a depth of 5mm has been hovering around 5C at the daily readings at 08.00. With much colder weather imminent next week, too soon to put much in the garden in the way of flowers and vegetables. The forecast is a drop of up to 10C in the maximum temperature, with wind chills and possible ground frost after Wednesday.