The strong sunshine on Thursday lifted the temperature to a maximum of 19.2C at 15.19 being 5.1C above average that made it the warmest day since 21st September (19.3C). The forecast cloud was observed arriving from the south at 14.05, thin and broken at first, but by 15.15 it had thickened thus the maximum mid-afternoon. The back track of the cloud radar showed the cloud persistent overnight, acting as a duvet limiting the loss of warmth into the atmosphere, with a resultant minimum of 9.2C at 06.46 early Friday. This low was 5.5C above my long-term average and made it the warmest night since 1st December (10.0C).
There was a little very weak sunshine after sunrise, through a small gap in the cloud over eastern horizon, but after 08.00 there were signs that the cloud was beginning to thin and becoming more broken with the hope of strong sunshine later in the morning.
The depression that had been lurking close to the Bay of Biscay recently has now moved a little eastwards, positioning itself just off the coast of Portugal overnight. The low pressure system produced the warm weather front that crossed our area overnight. Tracking back on the rain radar there was a small area on the edge of the cloud bank, about 80 miles wide, that is likely to have produced the few spots of rain visible on horizontal surfaces after dawn, but not sufficient to be measurable.
The recent anticyclone is likely to be the dominant factor affecting our weather over the weekend and into next week as it drifts a little further southwards and becomes settled over Scandinavia, with more dry and sunny days ahead.
I have mentioned this week that the brisk easterly had produced a wind chill. I have discovered, to my surprise, that there is no official definition of wind chill as definitions vary globally, dependent on how it is measured. In the UK,a system called Joint Action Group for Temperature Indices is used to realistically measure wind chill. This calculates wind chill by measuring how much heat is lost from a person’s bare face at a height of 5 feet (human height) using wind speed, temperature and humidity data.
I thought that the recent picture of the magnolia in Priory Gardens, that I included earlier this week, was worth repeating this morning as the blooms are glorious against the blue sky.