Although the peak temperature on Saturday was the highest for five days, under the modest sunshine, the maximum of 8.6C, logged 14.59, was still well below average at -2.1C. Under clear skies, with no cloud to act as a duvet to minimise the warmth into the atmosphere, the thermometer fell steadily downwards to reach a minimum of -3.1C at 05.48 early Sunday, which was a significant 5.8C below my long-term average.
There was a significant feature on both Friday and Saturday when the UV value rose at its peak into the ‘Moderate’ level for the first time since the 5th October, evidence that the sun is gaining in strength, although by day and night at the moment it doesn’t feel like it!
Sunday brought us welcome sunshine in the early morning that had lifted the temperature to 1.8C by 08.00. However, under the cool days and cold nights, the cold has continued to seeping the ground with a temperature of 0.7C at a depth of 5cm, the coldest since the 5th.
The anticyclone has intensified again and continuing to dominate our weather, up another 3mb since Saturday, with a reading of 1015.3mb at 08.00. As it changed position slightly on Saturday this resulted in the wind direction backing into the north, with the air again streaming down from near the Arctic again, hence the cold night under clear skies. A slight variation will see the air stream veer back into the northeast on Sunday so although the maximum today will be similar to Saturday it shouldn’t be nearly as cold overnight especially as two weather fronts are forecast to drift down from the north later today and overnight into Monday bringing much more cloud.
A warmer night tonight will mean that most of my daffodils will be vertical on Monday morning and not collapsed onto the ground, as on Sunday morning, after the hard frost!