Author: Eric Gilbert

Tuesday continued the recent trend of dull and dreary days under thick, low cloud brought across the UK on a northeasterly air stream. It was another cold day with the thermometer struggling to reach a maximum of 4.1C, logged at 14.59, being a significant 4.2C below the long-term average. The temperature fell slowly to hover around 2.8C all night with the lowest temperature of 2.4C set in the last twenty-four hours logged at 08.00 on Tuesday morning.

Once again, due to the thick cloud acting as a blanket to minimise loss of warmth into the atmosphere at night and with no sunshine to raise the temperature, the diurnal range, difference between maximum and minimum, was just 1.7C. One significant feature was the lack of any strong wind gusts, just a light breeze that gave an average speed of between 1 and 2mph all day and night with just one incident of 14mph at 02.15.

Not surprisingly, under the persistent dull conditions, there was no UV light logged all day, the second time this month.

Wednesday started as previous days under thick low cloud with the anemometer only slowly turning and in low, single figures. The humidity logged at 08.00 was 89.3%, the lowest for a week, so I hope this might mean the cloud thins a little during the daytime.

The recent depression is only slowly edging away eastwards, now off the dutch coast, and combined with the northeasterly airflow continuing the cloud cover from the moist and cool airstream. The battle between the anticyclone and depression is stalemate as the barometric pressure dropped just 0.3mb in the last twenty-four hours. The forecast is for the depression to continue easing away, but only very slowly eastwards, that will maintain the thick cloud for today and likely on Thursday.

Snow Moon
February’s full moon is called the Snow Moon and this year it will reach its peak at 1.53pm today. The best time to spot the full moon was last night or tonight, but probably not likely under the cloud cover! The so-called Snow Moon is named after the abundant snowfall the Northern Hemisphere often gets during February. In the UK, February is the snowiest month with an average of 5.6 snow days compared with 5.3 days in January and 4.2 days in March.

The depression that made Monday so depressing, as it pushed its cloud and drizzle over the UK, was reluctant to move away. The thick, low cloud produced intermittent light drizzle, no great quantity, with the daily total amounting to 0.8mm. It did severely limit any rise in temperature with a maximum of only 3.1C at 15.11, which was a significant 5.2C below the long-term average making it the coldest day since 10th January. There was little variation overnight with the thermometer hovering around 2.3C and 2.4C all night, the minimum of 2.3C was 0.4C above average.

The diurnal range, the difference in temperature between day and night, was exceptionally small, just 0.8C.

Tuesday began where Monday left off with thick, low cloud although the wind is much lighter, currently in low single figures.

The depression is still very close by, just off the coast of The Netherlands and still spinning cloud around it and still reaching over the UK, the thickest cloud now over the east coast of the UK. The forecast is for it to move ever so slowly into the North Sea but still influence our weather all day and into Wednesday. The direction of the air stream will be predominantly from the north this morning, backing into the northeast and east northeast later today.

The nearby high pressure has released its grip a little, a loss of 6mb since Monday but it is still trapping the moist, cold air underneath it. However,it is forming a ‘blocking high’ that is resisting the advance of Atlantic systems, with their associated weather fronts, moving towards the UK.

The depression over northern France spilled copious amounts of cloud over the UK on Sunday, although there were bright intervals in the morning also some weak sunshine. The thermometer peaked at 18.52 with a maximum of just 5.8C being 2.4C below the long-term average. The temperature varied little overnight thanks to the cloud cover with a minimum of 2.2C at 05.10 being 0.3C above the average.

Rain from the low-pressure system began to fall intermittently after 17.15 with a much more consistent fall just before and after midnight and another rain band from 04.55 that amounted to 16.2mm of precipitation. These disturbances brought increased wind rising into double figures after a relatively calm day with a peak gust of 23mph at 20.03.

Monday dawned ever so slowly with rain and very low, thick cloud. The high pressure is still mainly to the east of our area that, combined with the depression, is likely to bring continuous cloud all day with intermittent drizzle and light rain driven on by a cold northeasterly breeze, stronger than on Sunday. At least the fog has cleared but left us with misty conditions. The pick up in wind speed will produce a wind chill again today but not as severe as on Friday, The temperature at 08.00 was 2.7C with a wind chill making it feel more like 2.1C outside on the skin.

The anticyclone is forecast to be resident for much of the week, stretching as far east as Russia, which will mean a feed from a northeasterly air steam that will continue bringing with it cloud and moisture trapped under the high pressure dome, as it crosses the cold North Sea.

The barometric pressure began to rise after 09.00 on Saturday as it competed against the depression over northern France that had forced its cloud and murk across the UK. The pressure rose continuously over the following twenty-four hour period.

Saturday was a dreadfully dull, cold day with continuous thick cloud cover that limited any rise in temperature to a maximum of 3.6C at 16.49, which was a significant 4.3C below the long-term average. The cloud became even thicker in the early evening as the depression over France produced drizzle and light rain that amounted to 0.7mm just after 20.00. The cloud was so dense that the there was virtually no solar activity during daylight hours with a reading of just 44W/m2, the lowest maximum since 1st February 2024.

During the late evening the temperature began to fall again at 20.44, which was due to a small area of reduced cloud and thinning that saw the thermometer drop to a minimum of -0.3C logged at 06.01 early on Sunday. This low was 2.2C below average. The drop in temperature meant moisture condensed forming fog in the early hours that after first light had reduced visibility to 300m.

Sunday after first light revealed the foggy conditions with little air movement. The barometric pressure read 1026.9mb at 08.00 a rise of 10mb since Saturday and rising rapidly.

The forecast shows the anticyclone continuing to build across the UK, which will see the breeze continue from a northeasterly direction for the next few days with depressed temperatures by day and night. The maxima for the last six days has been 10.7, 9.9, 8.9, 6.9, 3.6 and 3.6C respectively. There is the hope that the next few days will be a little less cold but still well below average for early February.

Friday increasingly came under the influence of the depression moving up from the Bay of Biscay to central France throwing large areas of cloud across the UK. Intermittent light drizzle was observed around midday with more moisture later in the afternoon with light rain beginning at 18.15. The thermometer struggled to reach the dizzying heights of 4.6C in the morning at 11.18 being a significant 3.6C below the February average. Mixed with the light rain in the afternoon, around 16.00, were small snow flakes that eventually produced a daily total of 2.5mm of precipitation.

The strong winds from the northeast, combined with the low temperatures and humidity produced a significant wind chill that well into the evening meant it felt at least 2C cooler outside than that indicated on the thermometer, in fact it felt below zero outside.

Saturday struggled to come alive under very low, thick cloud that limited visibility to 500m masking the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest with the humidity reading 95% at 08.00, the highest at that time all week. Today the winds are much lighter, rarely getting into double figures, but wind chill is still a factor making it feel at least 1C cooler outside than indicated on the thermometer.

During Friday there was a considerable pressure differential as the depression overcame the anticyclone that resulted in the winds gusting strongly to 30 mph on one occasion. The barometric pressure has fallen to its lowest since the end of January with a reading of 1016.2mb, a fall of almost 28mb since Thursday, that will result in lower wind speeds today.

The nuisance depression will dominate our weather for today but from Sunday the large area of high pressure to the east will reassert itself and the the wind likely continue from the north east, however, unfortunately it will drag in cloud and moist air as it travels over the cold North Sea resulting in more dull days and depressed temperatures.