The thermometer struggled to reach 4.5C at 12.38 on Wednesday thanks to the drift of air from Scandinavia on a north easterly air stream. This low maximum was a significant 5.7C below the 39-year average. However it was a dry day. The temperature dropped to freezing at 21.15 on Wednesday and then reached a low of -1.8C at 05.26 in the early hours of Thursday, again a significant 5.7C below the long-term average.
Thursday initially revealed a little brightness but a depression running across western France into the Bay of Biscay has brought thicker cloud but no precipitation at the time when recordings were taken at 08.00. The wind will continue from a north easterly direction for most of the day. Thanks to the low day and night temperatures the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm read 1.0C at 08.00.
