DaveL

I had a record low June minimum temperature here of 6.2°C yesterday, June 1st. VP2 Records go back 8 years. Grass minimum 3.3. Brrr! Afternoon was quite pleasant though for a while, max briefly of 19.8 in sunny intervals and missed all the showers.

Yes, I saw that. I am also embarrassed to correct myself, it didn't back, it veered (S-W-N-E-S). And it continues to veer, round and round it goes... it has now gone SW again!

That slow moving heavy shower that formed over Southampton seems to be *just* sliding by southwards, aboui a mile to my west. It could develop and spread of course, we shall see. The wind direction has done an unusual slow 360 degree turn since 3 am when it was southerly, then slowly backed completely and steadily all around the compass to south again. That kind of thing always grabs my attention lol.

Had another grass frost here last night, -2.0°C, the 9th. gf this month. Minimum air temp +2.4 at 1 am, thereafter both temps flat to slowly increasing as a light breeze started up, maybe some high cloud too. Another pleasant sunny day today, max. so far 15.4 at 13:41, there is more thin high cloud today though. Southampton A/P showing a tad higher, 16°C at 14:50.

It reached 16.2°C here yesterday at 1pm and today, to my surprise because of the wind, 17.6 half an hour ago, probably today's max. That few miles further inland where I am can make a noticeable difference in an easterly, and today the wind has backed a tad north of east. Still need to find a bit of shelter from the wind to enjoy the sunshine though! I did worry briefly about my screen overheating in the sun but Southampton Airport has reported the same values on the hour as here, and their screen is up at 2 metres, higher then mine, and very exposed.

The squall line was a non-event here, heavier rain for a short while but no wind increase over the normal windy afternoon and only 3mm rain today.

Squall line is approaching Leeds, for anyone watching their footy match with Man Utd!

And yet Walney Island (Barrow) hit 74 mph in mid afternoon, which caught many up there by surprise (I had a worried phone call from a daughter up there). That's higher than Bristol Lulsgate, Southampton Airport and quite a few other places reported - some in the Red warning areas. But there were large variations even within small areas in the same warning zone: Southampton Docks was reported variously as 79 mph and 79 KNOTS while the airport a bit further inland was in the 60s. Very very hard to get these forecasts right for everyone, especially on peak gust speeds.

Exactly this. ^ It's what I said to my daughter on Thursday evening, that the Met Office was coming under pressure to upgrade to Red down here and to check for it as soon as she woke up. She did, saw the Red, the kids were over the moon - no school lol. But the Met Office could and should have said that too on Thursday evening - Amber Warning, Red Watch. I guessed as much, thanks! So yeah, well over 122 mph had it been there in 1987, I reckon.

There's an interesting description of the 1987 Great Storm on the Met Office site: The Great Storm of 1987 WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK A powerful storm ravaged many parts of the UK in the middle of October 1987. A couple of quotes from it may be of interest: All the above in knots so 94 mph in central London! Another report I have seen mentions a 10 minute mean wind speed of hurricane force at the old coastcuard station at Lee-on-the-Solent, and one in East Anglia (I forget which station). But I'd say 1987 was an order of magnitude greater than anything else we've seen since and it makes me wonder if Needles Old Battery (122 mph gust today) was operating then, or if the anemometer survived if it was.

Thanks for that, it's a bit of a puzzle actually as I've just checked back (South Today) and it just says "Southampton" 79 mph. The highest METAR gust reported from the airport is 56 knots i.e. 64 mph but may not be complete of course, but I notice that Southampton Dockhead reported 79 or 80 knots (91 or 92 mph) at 11 am. So I suspect the weather presenter either misread the chart or it's a report from Southampton Oceanography Centre, they have an anemometer on the roof (that's also at the docks). But heck, 91 mph, not on the coast and not on a cliff. Crikey.

That's completely unsurprising for a once in a decade or two event, the only surprise is that anyone is surprised by that.

Not necessarily, it';s more likely to be non standard exposure. Mine for example is a Davis VP2 anemometer set at 3 metres on a pole at the bottom of my garden - but being in the middle of a housing estate and not at 10 metres, the only valid comparison to be made is with its own historical records. Over the years, I have a good feel for the relationship between gust speeds here and the official stations especially Southampton Airport, you can usually add about 50%. So my max today of 47mph + 50% is 70mph, just a few mph above the official max gust at the airport (which is 10 miles further inland). I broke my previous (8 year) record on both gust and mean wind speeds, today was a cracker.

It's more gusty this afternoon hereabouts, mean wind speed has dropped but Southampton Airport reported 27/56 knots at 2pm and 23/47 at 2:30.

It'll be Needles Battery - which IS on the island (on a cliff top in fact).

Glad you edited that last bit in. Mayhem here near the S coast (and I'm not ON the coast) - 76mph recorded already at Bournemouth airport and my personal WS all time wind speeds (mean and gust) have gone. Wheelie bin mayhem loll

76 mph gust at Bournemouth airport in the 11:20 metar, it ain't over til it's over.

Wheelie bin mayhem here this morning, bins over left right and centre and their contents spread far and wide. The collectors were well peed off I can tell you, at their bosses ignoring the red. Filmed a neighbour's blue top bin sailing up my street for at least 30 yards lol. Broke my station wind gust record, the gauge is only at 3m and it hit 47 mph at 10:17... that's equivalent to well into the 60s in mph at 10m judging from past experience and comparisons with Southampton airport (it was 41 mph before today). Only 8 years of wind records though.

Fareham bin collections announced as 'continuing but may be delayed'. Well mine isn't going out until I see the actual bin lorry outside, and i am NOT clearing up the mess in the street from everyone else who have already put them out!

Gusts have increased at Newquay from 48 knots to 63 knots (72 mph) in the last hour.

Latest TAF for Heathrow: 10 am to 2 pm 45kt, gusts 60 kt (51 mph mean, 70 mph gusts). Ouch.

True but hurricanes are categorised while out at sea and usually weaken at landfall except in a small area close to the eye. The inshore waters forecast says violent storm force 11 for a time off the entire south and SW coasts - only one notch off true hurricane strength so some coasts will get a right old battering, while the total area impacted inland by wind will likely be greater than a cat 1 hurricane.

GFS 12 noon has that, crossing N Wales at 972 hPa.

Get yoursel up to Tesco in New Milton, they usually have a good range of batteries, they even stock my Davis VP2 batteries locally!

I don't like the look of the 12Z GFS, which has a secondary Low of 972Mb crossing N Wales - if it comes off, it will squeeze the isobars and push them further south. Downgraded to 65mph gusts by Met Office here but upgraded again to 70-75 by that new GFS. One point to note is that the RED warning area says 70-90mph gusts while the Amber area right along the south says 60-80 mph gusts. That means a lot of overlap and the rest of us are perilously close to RED at the moment. I'll be up early to warn my daughter and her kids if necessary!