Portland Paul

14. 1º c and sunny. Hygro 59 %. Gentle WNW breeze.

A dry and pleasant evening, broken cloud and a very light SW breeze. 12. 9º c. We had two heavy showers earlier, at 10am and around midday.

From personal memory, plus a few diary extracts: January A very unsettled, mild first half, with severe gales on 10th / 11th. Continued unsettled but less mild towards the 4th week. A brief, chilly NW blast on 25th, followed by a milder and wet day on 26th - but then more settled, though dull and still fairly mild. February A very dry month, with hardly any measurable rain until 20th. Very dull and misty in the first half, with barely any sunshine at all, and no frost. The third week was fairly mild, cloudy but less gloomy in a run of anitcyclonic NW winds. Colder and brighter on 21st, with a sleet shower in the morning as winds had turned northerly, and frosty evening. The 22nd saw some light sleet later, as a warm front crept in from the west through a ridge of HP over Ireland. The 23rd and 24th were milder and cloudy in WNW winds, but the 25th became wet and windy with a gusty SW wind. The 26th turned much colder with NW winds and some sleety rain in the morning. The 27th saw proper snow showers in a 'true' Arctic northerly, repeated on the 28th, with accumulations around 3 to 5cm, and sharp overnight frosts under clear skies. March Began very cold and wintry, with further snow or sleet at times in increasingly dull NE winds. The weather turned more anticyclonic by the weekend of 6th / 7th, as HP relaxed over Scandinavia, but remained cloudy or dull. An abrupt change later on 8th, as clear skies drifted up from France, leading to an overnight frost - but then a largely superb week of sunny skies and light SE breezes. It became warm by day, reaching 18º c by about the 12th. Mid-month remained warm, but more cloudy at times with just an occasional burst of rain, and temps still reaching 14 to 17º c. Cooler into the fourth week with WNW winds, some bright sunny periods and the odd shower. Things changed quite a bit around 29th, turning much wetter for the end of the month, with Atlantic troughs piling slowly into western parts, and keeping temps near 10 to 13º c at best. April No diary extracts avilable for this month, but I recall it being often mild or warm and on the wet side - especially during the second half. The heaviest rains being around 25th - 27th, being of continental origin and asscociated with misty, muggy and mild east or north-east winds. The month ended drier, sunnier and very warm, as the Iberian low weakened. May A fine, warm start - then cooler, but still sunny, as a northerly blast missed most of the UK and swept through Scandinavia into eastern Europe. HP then developed again over Scandi by 7th. On 8th, a diary entry describes clear blue skies and a very gusty easterly wind, but warm in the sun. By the morning of 10th, heavy rain pushed north, as LP became establised near SW England and southern Ireland. Brigther for the afternoon, except for a short-lived thunderstorm which produced huge raindrops. The week of 10th - 16th was generally unsettled, showery and less warm - and was notably chilly and wet on 13th in a NE wind. By 16th, LP had moved westwards into Ireland, then a vigorous new LP formed over Bicsay, replacing its parent by 17th. Winds turned brisk and southerly, bringing further dull and damp weather for 16th, but very warm and brighter for 17th. The 18th and 19th turned fresher in lighter SW winds, with some sunshine. On 20th, rain spread from the near continent, making for a cool and wet day with light northerly winds and even a crack of thunder at 1pm. A ridge formed over western parts, then moved across the UK on 21st / 22nd then into Scandi, and so the period was more pleasant with warm sunshine. By 25th, warm easterly flow had established again, but became tempered by increasing strength and rain moving up from the south. The morning of the 26th saw this rain turn very heavy with thunderstorms. A more stagnant spell followed, generally cool, dull and damp with light and variable winds, then vigorous lows swept wet and windy weather from the SW to end the month, and temps no better than 15 or 16º c. June The first week saw more benign weather develop, with lighter winds and a muggier feel with a fair amount of cloud. It turned very warm and sunny for the 6th / 7th, with a max of 26º c on 7th. The 8th was hot and sunny in a light ESE breeze, and reached 27º c. The 9th was very sticky and hazy, with a short thunderstorm around 11am. Some lightning after dusk later. The 10th was dull and sultry, dry all day until violent thunderstorms broke out in the late afternoon with gusty NE winds and flooding. Persistent heavy rain on 11th, and only 13º c reachhed. Dry, but dull and cold on 12th. The 13th brightened up for the afternoon with some nice sunshine, though a cool NNE breeze, and a high of 16º c. Heavy rain arrived from the SW later that evening, with a light ESE breeze. The rain eased away on 14th, with a chilly NE wind bringing a sunnier but cold evening. The 15th - 18th has a more W or NW wind regime with some showers, then things turned mainly dry with good sunny periods for the rest of the month, though some chilly nights at first. I will add the period July - December 1993 in the next 2 - 3 days, as my typing fingers are feeling sleepy!

That chart is for midnight, at the beginning of the 12th. Note the developing long-wave, vigorous trough out in the Atlantic. After a wet and windy day here, torrential rain fell around 4;30 pm with a blinding flash of lightning (it was getting dark of course), and deafening thunder. Once the storms had cleared, the back edge of the cold front could be seen around 5:30pm, with towering Cb anvils to the east highlighted by the city light pollution, in the dark sky.

A fairly warm, and also fairly dry month overall - I'm going for: 9. 6º c

I've even pruned them down to around 5 or 6 inches in the past, and the results are spectacular!

One flash of lightning, followed by a boom of thunder about 10 mins ago - following torrential rain.

The night of 23rd - 24th January 1996 brought widespread freezing rain across much of Wales, central and southern England, as a trough moved slowly northwards from France, combined with a very cold south-easterly flow over the UK. I remember it well - with around an inch or so of ice everywhere by the morning of 24th. The following days had biting easterly winds, and powdery snow led to even more treacherous conditions.

I remember it well, and here are a few extracts from my diary: Thursday 9th December 1993: A very blustery westerly wind, with frequent showers. 11º c the high. Saturday 11th: A very heavy and prolonged late afternoon shower, with hail and a hint of sleet on a north-westerly breeze. 5º c in the afternoon. Sunday 12th: Wet snow in the morning with a raw SSE breeze, quickly turned to heavy rain, followed later by drizzle and south-westerly gales and an evening high of 13º c. Monday 13th: Damp, mild start (10º c at dawn), with a westerly wind - that quickly veered to a NNE direction by noon, bringing sleet, then more broken skies later with afternoon temps around 3 or 4º c. Tuesday 14th: Soil frozen from overnight frost. Thickening high cloud from the west with a biting southerly wind, brought a covering of powdery snow by noon. The afternoon saw further light sleet and snow on a strong SSW wind, turning to light rain after dusk. Torrential rain by midnight, by which time the temp had risen to 10º c! Wednesday 15th: Bright sunshine and squally showers on a very strong westerly wind, and temperatures falling again through the day. Thursday 16th: Lying snow from a spell of snow in the early hours, with sunshine and high of 3º c.

After our overnight storms, the daytime of Friday 18th was very misty or foggy here...much like a November day. As for 1993, Nick, I don't recall any storms here...but remember that September as being mostly unsettled, and not too warm either. October 8th 1993, is in my diary though, for recording a very loud afternoon thunderstorm with torrential rain, followed by a silent 'light show' to the north, at dusk. Again - no mention of it on the evening forecast; the summary of that Friday afternoon was merely ' showery'.

I remember the early hours of 18th - torrential rain, forked lightning and deafening thunder for about 2 hours, from about 1 to 3 am. Now, which evening forecaster (on 17th) said that there would just be 'patchy rain for tonight', and no mention of thunder??? :o

A large slow moving thunderstorm today, from 4 to 5:30 pm. Very gloomy, with quite heavy rain, vivid lightning, and cracking loud thunder.

Very gloomy with a very light southerly, and a moderate steady shower.....at last some rain for the parched ground!

Very dark, with frequent lightning on the western side of the sky from 6 to 6-25 am. Quite loud thunder for a time too - but has all moved away northwards. Increasing large spots of rain at current. Very sticky at 19. 4º c in a very light SSE breeze.

Between 6 pm and 7:30 pm - two storms. The first - plenty of lightning to the north-west and regular thunder. Pea size hail soon turned to heavy rain with a gusty SW breeze. The second - one flash of lightning to the south-west, followed by torrential rain and a SSW squall reaching about 30 mph for around 15 seconds.

Good morning, some hugs spots of rain around 7:30 am, then a quite abrupt change to hazy sunshine as the warm front rather high level thick stratus moved off north-westwards - The Last 24 hours, to 8:41 am - Max Temp: 20. 2 ºc Min Temp: 10. 3 ºc Current Temp: 15. 3 ºc State of grass: Wet State of pavement: Damp State of soil: Moist Soil Temp (2.5 cm depth, on partially plant shaded soil in SSW facing border receiving about 6 hours of sun (when available) per day): 10. 2 º c. Humidity: 70% Dewpoint: 11. 0 º c Wind: 8 mph -----SE Rainfall: 0. 5 mm. May running rainfall total: 8. 4 mm April rainfall total: 51. 7 mm March 2006 rainfall total: 69. 6 mm. February 2006 rainall total: 48. 2 mm. January 2006 rainfall total: 29. 0 mm Current cloud cover: Altocumulus, Cirrocumulus, Fractostratus ---- 5 octas. Visibility: 10 miles (Hazy) Pressure: 1015 mb ----------Rising ----Trend 1 mb/ 12 hrs. Weather: Hazy. Intervals of warm sunshine. Breezy at times. Weather in past 24 hrs--- Warm, clear and breezy with long sunny spells. Cloudier and hazy from the early hours, with showers around 7 to 7:30 am. Expected weather today - Bright and hazy for the next hour or two. Very warm, mostly sunny from late morning - with just well scattered high level cloud. Breezy at times.

Good morning - The Last 25 hours, to 9:42 am on Friday - Max Temp: 16. 7 ºc Min Temp: 7. 0 ºc Current Temp: 11. 8 ºc State of grass: Dry State of pavement: Dry State of soil: Dry at surface in sunny areas. Slightly moist to moist in shade. Soil Temp (2.5 cm depth, on partially plant shaded soil in SSW facing border receiving about 6 hours of sun (when available) per day): 9. 2 º c. Humidity: 62% Dewpoint: 6. 4 º c Wind: 6 mph -----N Rainfall: None April running rainfall total: 51. 7 mm March 2006 rainfall total: 69. 6 mm. February 2006 rainall total: 48. 2 mm. January 2006 rainfall total: 29. 0 mm Current cloud cover: Mid- level stratus, mid -level stratocumulus ---- 7 octas. Visibility: 18 miles Pressure: 1027 mb ----------Rising ----Trend 1 mb/ 12 hrs. Weather: Bright, weak sunny spells between clouds. Weather in past 24 hrs--- Mostly cloudy at first, then long sunny spells - feeling warm in the strong sunshine. A very pleasant evening indeed, then partly cloudy overnight. Expected weather today - Mostly bright, cloudy at times with the risk of a shower - but mostly dry. A high of 14 or 15º c expected.

Generally cloudy and hazy today, but dry since 9am. Light NE winds. Clear since dusk, with no wind.

Another light dusting of snow during last night - but thawed away by midday.

Two snow showers - one at 1 pm, the next around 2:40 pm. Each lasting around 10 mins at the most.

A few small snow showers today, good sunny spells between. No accumulations.

A dry day with some sunshine and a strong NE wind, making it feel bitter.

Heavy snow towards dawn this morning - up to an inch fell, and much of it is still lying.

Icy -with a cm or two of snow for parts of the Midlands into Wales by end of tonight was mentioned. Given the 850 mb temps and 500 mb thickness contours etc, I think he could be right. It all relies on ppn - rather fragmented on that cold front - but all it takes is a 10 min snow shower before dawn ----

Moderate sleety snow since 7 am. Light NNW wind, temp 1. 6º c.