Thursday gave us a day of welcome sunshine that lifted the thermometer, eventually, having been around 4C for much of the day, to 9.0C just after midnight at 00.05, which was again, as for many days in January, above my 40-year average at +0.9C.That warmth stayed overnight thanks to a warm front passing over the UK. The minimum that occurred during the evening registered 4.0C being 2.3C above my 40-year average. After a relatively calm day the breeze picked up overnight with a peak gust of 21mph at 04.49 early Friday.
It was a dry day with the UV level easing upwards, logged at 0.9, still very low as only in February.
Overnight cloud meant a misty start to Friday with low cloud draping the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest. The thermometer read 8.2C at 08.00. The extensive high pressure system, centred over the Bay of Biscay, is still having an effect on our weather being predominantly dry but streaming warm, moist air over the UK, from the Atlantic, where it picks up moisture. The barometric pressure at 0800 was 1031.4mb, down 3mb since yesterday.
The warmer air has lifted the soil temperature, at a depth of 5cm, to 6.3C at 08.00.
January 2024 Review
The new month began with copious amounts of rain thanks to several depressions circling the UK and the Meteorological Office naming Storm Henk on the 2nd. A maximum gust of 49mph was logged during the afternoon.
The wettest day in this period was the 4th when the daily rainfall amounted to 29.3mm, the wettest day since 20th September (29.9m), thanks to a rogue depression developing just off the south coast and slowly edging along the English Channel.
By the 6th we saw the beginning of a distinct change in our weather as the wind swung into the north, depressing temperatures. This was due to the depressions easing away eastwards and a large area of high pressure edging in from the west. By the 7th it extended from the Arctic to Portugal and east to Russia. The air circulating clockwise meant the wind came from the northeast, a much cooler direction. Consequently, a maximum of 3.7C on the 7th was 3.4C below my 40-year average and the coolest day since 1st December. The wind was brisk and produced a windchill so that outside it felt at least 2C below that observed on an exterior thermometer.
After the extended wet period previously, it was a relief to have a succession of dry days starting on the 7th lasting for thirteen days until the 20th.
The anticyclone that had been around for several days from the 7th began to lose its influence on the 13th. As a result, the depression to the east, centred over the Baltic, began to dominate our weather. The air, moving in an anticlockwise direction, as is the norm for low pressure systems, allowed a blast of Arctic air to stream down on a north-westerly breeze. The maximum of just 1.5C on the 17th meant it was 5.6C below my 40-year average and the coldest day since 1st December 2023 (0.7C). A minimum of -5.9C at 06.51 in the early hours of the 18th made it the coldest night since January 25th, 2023 (-7.7C).
Storm Isha arrived with a vengeance on the 21st. Wind gusting to 48mph and rainfall of 15.2mm. However, hard on its heels was Storm Jocelyn on the 23rd that saw a peak gust of 51mph but thankfully only modest falls of rain.
Warm air from Iberia on the 25th saw the thermometer rose to 12.1C, the second warmest day this month being 5C above my 40-year average.
The end of the month was notable for the significant warmth that was brought from North Africa on a southerly stream of air. A maximum of 12.2C was logged on the 28th with a low occurring at 17.30, not overnight as happens in Winter, when the thermometer fell no lower than 8.9C, some 7.6C above my 40-year minimum average for January.
The average temperature for the month was exactly average, breaking it down the average maximum was +0.1C and the average minimum was -01C.
The rainfall total of 91.1mm was just 1.5mm above my 40-year average. There were two significant daily falls that of 15.2mm on the 21st and 29.3mm on the 4th.
There is a significant trend with the diurnal temperatures for January. The range between day and night has increased from around 11C in the 1980’s to almost 14C in the last four years.
It was a very dull month; however, the monthly total of Global Sunshine was 5 hours above my 15-year average.
The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm was 0.3C below my 11-year average.
A total of 10 air frosts were recorded. The coldest night occurred in the early hours of the 19th when the thermometer fell to -6.3C.
The average barometric pressure was 3mb above my 15-year average.
Snow grains were observed on the 7th at 14.30 and 16.20
Storm information
Storm Isha marked only the second time in a UK storm season that the letter I has been reached in the alphabet. Then Storm Jocelyn made it a count of ten storms this season. Storm seasons run from the start of September to the end of the following August.
The first time the letter I was reached was in February 2016, with Storm Imogen. The furthest a storm season has reached in the alphabet is the letter K when Storm Kate was named in March 2016. The Metrological Office began naming storms in 2015.
Last year’s storm season made it only as far as the letter B, with Storm Betty in August. By contrast, this year’s season has seen storms named in every month so far: Agnes in September; Babet on October; Ciaran and Debi in November; Elin, Fergus and Gerritt in December; and Henk, Isha and Jocelyn in January 2024.
It is the only instance to date of named storms occurring in the first five months of a season.
The list of storms names is compiled jointly by the Met Office, Met Eireann in. Ireland and KNMI, the Dutch national weather forecasting service. It is assembled from suggestions submitted by the public and by staff within the three organisations and is announced at the end of August just before the start of the new storm season.
The average temperature for the month was exactly average, breaking it down the average maximum was +0.1C and the average minimum was -01C.
The rainfall total of 91.1mm was just 1.5mm above my 40-year average. There were two significant daily falls that of 15.2mm on the 21st and 29.3mm on the 4th.
There is a significant trend with the diurnal temperatures for January. The range between day and night has increased from around 11C in the 1980’s to almost 14C in the last four years.
