Month: January 2024

With a maximum of just 7.4C on Tuesday it was the coolest day since the 20th thanks to the brisk northwesterly breeze gusting at its peak to 16mph. This peak was only just above my 40-year average at +0.3C. It was a forgettable day thanks to the persistent thick cloud although it remained dry. It was so dull all day that no UV light was detected.

A low of 4.2C overnight at 04.28 was logged in the early hours of Wednesday, since then the temperature has lifted a little to 5.3C at 08.00

The extensive anticyclone over the Continent has relocated with the result the breeze today will come principally from the southwest but being a moist air steam it will result in anther mainly cloudy day. In fact it is an extremely long over water travel, starting in the Mediterranean and then around the Bay of Biscay before coming up from the south west across the UK. The barometric pressure has risen to a quite high value with a reading of 1032.4mb at 08.00.

The maximum of 10.9C on Monday was over a degree down on the unusual warmth of Sunday but it was still 3.8C above my 40-year average. It was another dry day with a brisk wind from the south gusting to 28mph at its strongest. It was just before midnight when the temperature began to fall from double figures reaching a minimum of 6.4C at 05.47 on Tuesday, which was 5.1C above my 40-year average.

Tuesday morning revealed a a mostly cloudy sky. As the low pressure eases away today a high pressure to the south will change the wind direction from south or southwest to northwest for much of the day. The anticyclone centred over France at the moment will dominate our weather for a couple of days. This airstream will be from a cooler direction so the maximum will be a few degrees down on recent days.

The barometric pressure has been rising since the early hours with a reading of 1026.1mb at 08.00.

The rainfall total for January still stands at exactly 90.0mm just 0.4mm above my 40-year average. With little rain in the forecast it will be an average January month for rainfall.

The warm southerly air on Sunday lifted the thermometer to 12.2C at 14.09. This was a significant 5.1C above my 40-year average and the warmest day since 2nd January (12.6C) thanks to an air stream from North Africa. The lowest temperature for the past twenty-four hours occurred at 17.30 on Sunday, not overnight as is usual in winter, with a low of 8.9C, which was 7.6C above my 40-year average.The solar energy was the highest since 11th November in the warm sunshine and the UV peak reading of 0.9, still in the ‘Low’ category, was the highest since 17th November.

Monday struggled to come alive under thick, low cloud. A mini depression is moving up from the Bay of Biscay throwing its cloud across southern England containing a weather front that will give a mainly cloudy day but with still considerable warmth for January.

The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has recjveetd considerably with a temperature at 08.00 of 8.6C compared to -2.9C ten day ago.

A peak of 7.5C on Friday was 0.8C above the average. Although the southeasterly breeze was light, maximum gust of just 16mph, the morning started with an air frost so it took a while for the thermometer to rise from a low start during the breaks of sunshine mid-morning. It was a dry day. The overnight low of 4.3C at 05.39 Sunday was also above average, exactly 3C.

On Sunday the centre of the high pressure has migrated a little further east, over Austria and extending to Russia as the day progresses. The clockwise movement of air will bring a much warmer air mass from much further south, around North Africa, that will contain Saharan Dust, however, this is likely to fall to the northwest of the UK. The temperature by 08.00 had risen a trifle to 4.8C with the barometric pressure down 10mb since Saturday with a reading of 1022.7mb at 08.00.

We are now a month after the shortest day so it is not surprising to find that the solar energy in the sunshine on Friday was the highest since mid-November and the the UV level logged at 0.8, last seen in late November. The temperature rose to 8.9C in the brisk main southwesterly breeze being 1.7C above my 40-year average.

Under initially clear skies the thermometer dropped to around 2C late evening but at its lowest registered -1.2C at 06.36 early Saturday, which was 2.9C below my 40-year average.

Thin high cloud was observed at first light on Saturday. However, the barometric pressure is still very high, currently 1033.7mb, thanks to an intense anticyclone over France that should bring a mainly dry and settled day. The centre of the high pressure is forecast to move eastwards that will result in the wind, initially coming a southerly quarter, backing further into the southeast.