Author: Eric Gilbert

Thursday was cool thanks to the predominantly cloudy conditions in the morning and brisk wind from the northwest that produced a wind chill again making it feel at least 1C colder outside than that indicated on a thermometer. The temperature reached a maximum 6.1C at 14.27 being 1.0C below the 40-year average. During the evening, after falling a couple of degrees, the temperature remained stable at around 4C but then after 00.30 it began to fall steadily reaching a low of 0.4C at 07.34 as the clouds began to thin, which was 0.9C below average and produced a ground frost again. The rain from Storm Ivo, named by the Portuguese Met Office, did stay predominantly to the south of the UK. The rain radar indicated that during the afternoon heavy rain reached as far north as Ringwood with brief light rain occasionally falling in Salisbury.

Friday welcomed a mainly blue sky with thin upper cloud. This was due to the back edge of the cloud from yesterday’s depression over France moving away and a ridge of high-pressure arriving.

A large high-pressure system in the Atlantic, centred near the Azores, has pushed a ridge of high pressure over the UK so a much quieter and fine day ahead, the barometric pressure having risen a significant 18mb since 08.00 on Thursday.

I referred to the recent storms yesterday being named alphabetically. However, the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are never used to a paucity of names that begin with these letters. It is only recently that the Met Office started naming storms, the first year was 2015. The idea of naming storms was to improve communication about severe weather by making it easier for the public to track and understand the potential impacts of a specific storm.

After a wet morning on Tuesday it brightened up after 14.10 that produced a maximum temperature of 8.3C at 15.14 being a welcome 1.2C above my long-term average. During the evening the barometric pressure continued to rise slowly as Storm Herminia eventually left our shores. With the cloud thinning the temperature held steady between 3.5C and 4C for much of the night but just after 04.30 the thermometer began to fall slowly reaching a minimum of 2.0C at 08.00 being 0.7C above average.

Wednesday began with relatively clear skies but what cloud there was, was high and thin. However, thanks to a deep depression over the Brest peninsula throwing cloud across the UK it began to thicken and the sun become much weaker after 08.30. The temperature continued to fall with a low of 1.7C at 08.30 but will now rise as the cloud cover increases, with the sun, sadly, becoming obscured.

The low air temperature produced a short lived ground frost that was evident on the grass away from any built up area. Its also produced misty and foggy conditions that wondered around and in the River Og valley between 08.00 and 09.00. The air temperature had recovered to 2.0C by 09.00. The fog thickened before 10.00 limiting visibility to around 300m.

The depression to the south will produce a glancing blow to the most southern part for the UK with thick cloud and heavy rain that, from the rain and cloud radar forecast, seems to be just to the south of our area.

Latest: Just discovered that the storm running across northern France has not been named in Britain because its effects are not expected to be as significant as storms which are named in the UK and Ireland although it is technically Storm Ivo named by the Portuguese’s Met Service.

We have had five named storms this year in the season that runs from September to the following August. The previous year of 2023/2024 gave us 12 named storms. In the UK, storms are named by the UK Met Office, in collaboration with the Irish Met Service and Dutch Met Service with names chosen from a public suggestion list, excluding letters like Q, U, X, Y and Z. Storms are listed alphabetically when the final section has been made. Storms are named when a deep depression is likely to cause significant impacts with strong winds, heavy rain or snow.

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.

With torrential rain totalling 26.8mm and wind gusts to 38mph the last twenty-four hours have been stormy. The thermometer eventually reached a maximum of 8.5C in the early evening at 21.21, which was due to the heavy and persistent rain that began at 10.15 and persisted for much of the daylight hours, easing off at 15.55, with further bursts either side of midnight and another at 08.45 early Monday. The additional daily precipitation of 26.8mm, including hail on Monday morning, took the monthly total to 97.3mm being 109% of my 40-year average or + 7.7mm. The barometric pressure fell to its lowest at 00.10 early Monday with a reading of 975.6mb.

Storm Herminia produced strong squally winds with a maximum gist of 38mph at 12.15 that died down as the afternoon progressed but picked up again during the early hours of Monday, up to 30mph. It was the lowest Sara anergy since the 1st January.

Monday morning early brought two more squalls of wind, rain and hail, in narrow bands, that included thunder at 07.42, just five miles southeast of Marlborough and at 08.10 five miles south of Hungerford. Within minutes the temperature dropped 2C. Clearer skies followed but the rain radar shows a multitude of shower activity massing to the west and heading our way as the day progresses.

Fact: 26.8mm of precipitation equates to 268,000 litres per hectare or every square metre received 26.8 litres of rain water during the past twenty-four hours. No wonder the river is running high.

The centre of Storm Herminia is currently off the southwest tip-off Ireland that has caused the wind direction to change from south east on Sunday to southwest for much of Monday. Its track will take it slowly across Ireland and middle England that by midday on Tuesday is forecast to exit over the east coast of the UK, which will mean its disturbed conditions will dominate our weather for today and into the evening.

Saturday was a very pleasant, dry day after the passage of Storm Eowyn with light winds but only average temperatures by day. Just before midday thin cloud was observed drifting cross the sky and thickening before 13.00 reducing the strength of the sun, turning it weaker and hazy after strong sunshine all morning. Thus the day maximum of 7.8C occurred at 12.48 before the thicker cloud arrived being 0.6C above my 4-year average. The UV level rose at its peak to 0.8, still in the low category, but it is still January although it was equal highest this month with that logged on the 16th.

During the early evening the thermometer steadily fell away to reach a low of 1.1C at 21.08. After that time more thicker cloud arrived ahead of the next storm that saw the thermometer slowly recover to reach 5.0C at 08.00 on Sunday. There were a couple of light showers between 02.30 and 03.45 amounting to 1.0mm that took the monthly total to 70.5mm when the long-term average for January is 89.6mm.

As the depression approaches the wind will swing from predominantly southwest yesterday to mostly southeast today. The rain radar at 08.00 showed a very wide rain band with heavy rain currently moving across the west country and forecast to arrive here between 10.00 ad 11.00.

The radar shows another depression has developed in the eastern Atlantic that the Spanish Met Office have named Storm Herminia. This is currently heading for Ireland later today and then moving across to middle England. The wind has been slowly rising since 06.45 and will get very strong as the morning progresses. The barometric pressure has dropped again ahead of the storm with a reading of 998.7mb at 08.00, down a modest 6 mb since yesterday, but is currently falling rapidly, as the depression closes in, that had a centre pressure of 957mb at midnight but forecast to deepen further to 952mb by midday.