Monday can best be described as a turbulent day with very strong winds and frequent heavy showers of rain and hail, all day. The total precipitation that included rain and small hail on two occasions, which is described as less that 5mm in diameter, amounted to 13.2mm, which took the monthly total to 110.5mm being 123% of the 40 year average and made it so far, the wettest January since 2016. There were two occasions, when at its peak, the rain was falling at a rate of 26mm/hour. The wettest January since this station was set up in 1984 was in 2016 when 219.1mm was logged, so almost twice this month’s total.
During the frequent strong squalls in the morning the thermometer dropped almost 3C to a low of 3.2C at 11.15. Thunder was heard on several occasions including at 07.42, 08.10 and an enormous clap and immediate lighting overhead a little later at 10.58. The southerly breeze, gusting to 37mph on one occasion, was from a warmer direction and allowed the thermometer, in the brief sunny interval after 13.30, to reach a maximum of 7.8C at 14.20, which was 0.7C above the long-term average.
Tuesday revealed a mainly cloudy start to the day with more rain showers falling with the thermometer reading 8.0C at 08.00. The wind has been slowly abating since the peak mid-afternoon on Monday. The rain radar shows a multitude of showers and thick, low cloud circulating around the centre of Storm Herminia, which is currently over the Midlands, as it slowly tracks eastwards, as it does so the wind will veer from southwest to west and then west-northwest.
The projection for Wednesday is for another storm to arrive but at the moment the forecast indicates we will be on the northern fringe of the heavy rain and wind, but time will tell.
