Thursday was a bitterly cold day that saw the thermometer struggle to reach a maximum of 3.4C at 13.10. The was due to the lack of sunshine, the very brisk wind from the Northeast and the continuing feed of Arctic air. At 11.30 the thermometer read 2.4C but the combined effect of wind strength, direction, humidity and temperature meant outside it felt more like -0.5C due to wind chill. Initially during the evening the temperature dropped away reaching a minimum of -1.7C at 20.25 but after that time the thermometer began to rise again reaching 0C at 00.50 just after midnight and 2.3C at 08.00 Friday. This change was due to cloud cover increasing although the major factor of the wind changing direction to come from the west, a slightly warmer direction that began to cut off the flow of Arctic air. The strongest gust of wind all month was logged at 04.05 early Friday with a peak of 22mph. The maximum was 6.9C below the long-term average and the minimum 5.7C below.
Friday brought a much brighter start to the day with minimal cloud cover and the possibility of sunshine as the morning progresses.
A depression in mid-atlantic is beginning to fill rapidly that will close in on the UK over the weekend and has been named Storm Bert by the Meteorological Office.
The low temperatures by day and night are causing the cold to continue to seep into the ground with the temperature at a depth of 5cm reading 0.9C at 08.00, the lowest since 20th January 2024