The maximum of 16.6C at 15.11 on Wednesday made it the warmest day since 25th November (17.1C) and a significant 5.9C above my long-term average. It felt very warm in the glorious sunshine, especially as the breeze from the southeast, a much less cold direction that recent northeasterlies, was much lighter, only just into double figures, with a peak gust of just 11mph on one occasion.
Under the sunshine and light breeze another 2.1mm of equivalent rainfall was lost through evaporation from ground sources and plant life, now totalling 28.2mm, against the minimal rainfall for March of 1.4mm, when the 40-year average is 62.9mm.
So far in March we have only had two days when there was precipitation. The coming weekend will see more unstable weather arriving as the high-pressure relinquishes control and the depression, now over Iberia, approaches the country, with cloud and lower temperatures also the possibility of light rain.
The UV level rose again, at its peak, up to the ‘Moderate’ category.
The past night was much less cold than recent nights with the thermometer not sinking below 6.1C logged at 05.56, making it the warmest night since the 5th (6.4C) due to the warmer air mass and broken cloud overnight limiting loss of warmth into the atmosphere.
Spring Equinox. Some research reveals that the word ‘equinox’ comes from the Latin language and means equal night.
It would be easy to assume that day and night would be of equal length of 12 hours each. However, that is not entirely true.
At the equinox, the measurement is taken from when the centre of the Sun is at the horizon and there are 12 hours between sunrise and sunset.
The top edge of the sun is visible first at sunrise and last at sunset. Due to refraction, there is still light for a short time even when the sun is no longer visible. This adds a little extra time to daylight hours.
The concept of the spring equinox was celebrated by ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians, Greeks and Persians, often associated with rebirth of nature and fertility rituals.