Weather Snippits 2012
January 8th - The first week of the new year was mild and windy with spells of rain. The maximum temperature was 11.4°C recorded on the 3rd at 07:35. The minimum temperature was only 1.9°C at 08:57 on the 2nd, meaning no air frost was recorded in the first week. 17.2 millimeters of rain fell in the first seven days, above average for the first week, but it was the wind that was the most notable feature. For three days, from the 3rd to the 5th, the highest gust was around the 40 mph mark, peaking at 41.4 mph on both the 3rd and the 5th.
January 13th - The first recorded air frost of 2012 occured at 21:30 when the temperature dropped below freezing. The temperature continued to fall during the evening and early morning, finally settling at -2.6°C at 07:41 on the 14th. This wasn't the coldest night of the winter, however, as the temperature dipped to -2.9°C on December 18th 2011.
January 17th - The daily average temperature was -0.3°C. This was the first time the average daily temperature was below zero since January 31st 2011 when the average temperature was -2.0°C.
February 2nd - The average temperature for the day was -0.6°C. This was the lowest daily average temperature since January 31st 2011.
February 4th - The first measurable snowfall of the winter occured when 9 centimeters fell between 15:00 and 22:00. This followed a minimum temperature of -6.4°C recorded at 08:16. This was the coldest temperature since the -8.8°C recorded on December 20th 2010. The average temperature was -2.9°C, the coldest since December 21st 2010 when the average temperature was -4.2°C.
February 7th - Today's high barometer of 1044.6 millibars surpassed the all time high of 1042.5 millibars set on 26th January 2010 by 2.1 millibars.
February 8th - Temperature dropped to -6.8°C at 01:10 making it the coldest temperature since December 20th 2010.
February 11th - The thermometer touched -7.2°C at 06:57, making it the coldest temperature so far this winter, and the coldest February temperature ever recorded at this station.
February 23rd - The temperature reached 15.6°C at 15:24 making it the warmest February day recorded at this station, and the warmest day of 2012 so far. The last time that the temperature was higher occured on October 31st 2011 when the mercury reached 15.8°C.
March 11th - Highest temperature since October 23rd 2011 as the thermometer reached 17.2° C at 15:11. It was also the warmest March day at this station, beating the previous best of 16.9°C set at 15:23 on 24/03/11. There were 9.6 hours of sun.
March 26th - Temperature reached 17.5° C at 15:33, making it the warmest day of the year so far and the highest ever March temperature. The average temperature for the day was 11.0° C, comparable to May averages. There were 11.2 hours of sun for the second day in succession.
March 27th - The warm spell continued with the temperature reaching 19.9° C at 15:09, the warmest day since October 3rd when the temperature was 25.6° C. The average temperature for the day was 12.2°C.
March 28th - The record breaking weather continued as the thermometer reached 21.2° C at 16:38. The average for the day was 12.9°C and there was 10.2 hours of sunshine. The maximum heat index was 25.2°C at 13:54, easily beating the March best of 19.9° C set the day before.
April 4th - Record for most precipitation in a day was broken when 36.4 mm of rain, sleet and snow fell, beating the previous best of 35.4 mm set on September 6th 2010. At one point, the snow was lying 4 cms deep, although this soon started to thaw and was gone by the next day.
April 16th - At 03:13, the temperature dipped to -1.1°C making it the lowest April temperature ever recorded at Bracken House. This is the third sub-zero temperature recorded this month, a station record for April.
May 5th - Temperature dropped to 0.4°C at 04:43. This was the lowest May temperature ever recorded at this station, beating the previous lowest of 0.7°C set on May 13th 2010.