Monthly Archives: March 2014

Wed 26th Mar 8:45 p.m. – Warming up a bit this weekend

A bit of a raw breeze across the Peak District today and a few sleet, snow and hail showers. Nothing to get too excited about, though. The next couple of days will see the rather cold, raw easterly winds continuing. There’ll be some showery rain on and off but any sleet or snow will be only in the highest parts.

Something of a change over the weekend as winds start to come in from the SE bringing slightly warmer air. Here in Tideswell we’ll probably see the temperature creeping above 10 deg. Not much sunshine on offer, though it’ll probably be dry, or mostly so over the weekend. So, a pretty good weekend for getting out walking.

The slightly warmer and mostly dry weather is likely to last into the start of next week but there are some hints of it getting colder again towards the end of next week. That’s real crystal ball stuff though and can’t be relied on this far ahead.

Tue 25th Mar 7:45 p.m. – An unpleasant week

Today has been pretty grotty across the Peak District with pretty well non-stop rain. It often wasn’t very heavy but with extensive grey low cloud it hasn’t been a very inspiring day. Very much on the cold side too, with a max temperature here in Tideswell of only 6 deg.

For the rest of the week we’re going to see nagging, raw easterly winds with quite a lot of cloud and showery outbreaks of rain from time to time. It’ll be cold enough for some sleet or snow on the highest parts but no significant amounts of snow are expected on the ground.

Into the weekend we’ll probably see the easterly winds continuing but there are some signs that it’ll warm up just a fraction.

Spring is still ‘on hold’!

Mon 24th Mar 10:15 p.m. – A raw week ahead of us

After a gorgeous sunny day today we look set for an unsettled rather cold week with a raw easterly wind setting in. Up till now easterly winds have been absent this winter but now that “spring” is here we’re in for a prolonged spell of easterlies that’ll last right into at least the beginning of April. That’s likely to bring grey cloudy skies across the Peak District with showers from time to time and it’ll be cold enough for some sleet or even snow on the higher parts though very little is likely to settle except perhaps above 500 metres. Below about 300 metres it should only be rain.

Spring is ‘on hold’ for a while, I’m afraid.

Sun 9th Mar 10:15 p.m. – What a splendid day today

Summer arrived in the Peak District today with almost unbroken sunshine from sunrise till sunset. In Tideswell the maximum temperature was 16.6 deg. That’s about 8 deg above the March average and it was the warmest day since 7th October last year. We had 10.0 hours of sunshine which makes it the sunniest day since 19th July last year.

Unfortunately, the warmth was a one-day wonder and tomorrow we’ll be back to a more usual 9 deg. Nevertheless the coming week will see a lot of fine weather with spells of sunshine and there’s every chance that it’ll stay dry all week.

The computer models are continuing to hint that it’ll turn colder during the second half of the month. There’s no detail on that yet but it may be that winter hasn’t finished with us yet. Watch this space!

Sun 9th Mar 7:15 a.m. – A fine day

It’s a gorgeous clear sunny morning across the Peak District. With the temperature expected to get into the low teens it’ll be a perfect day for a walk. It’s still a bit muddy underfoot in places but much better than it was a couple of weeks ago

Sat 8th Mar 9:15 a.m. – Spring is on the way!

It’s a grey raw start to the weekend across the Peak District. The temperature in Tideswell is currently 6 deg and there’s a stiff southerly wind blowing.

It’ll stay mostly cloudy through today but it will brighten up and we’ll see the temperature rise to 10-12 deg in the afternoon.

Sunday looks like being a better day with spells of sunshine. This leads us on to a pretty good week with mostly dry weather across the Peak District and more sunshine than we’ve seen for quite a while.  Make the most of it, though, because the computer models are hinting at more unsettled and colder weather for the second half of March. Winter may not be completely finished with us yet.

Tue 4th Mar 10:00 a.m. – Spring really is on the way!

Not a very inspiring start to the day across the Peak District. After an early frost there’s been some slight rain for the past hour or so. Nevertheless, it will dry up and brighten a bit later in the morning.

We’re just getting into the start of what looks like being quite a long spell of mostly fine and dry weather that may well last through the weekend and for much of next week as well.  There’ll probably be increasing amounts of sunshine during this spell and temperatures will certainly be on the up Spring is arriving!

Sun 2nd Mar 7:00 p.m. – A filthy evening!

It’s very wet across the Peak District at the moment with persistent moderate to heavy rain. The rain band is moving east and the back edge of it currently lies from about Chester to Cardiff. We’ve got a couple more hours of rain over the Peak District then a gradual improvement.

With clearing skies and light winds after the rain it’s likely to turn frosty later in the night with icy stretches forming on untreated roads. Some freezing fog may well be an additional hazard in the morning.

Light winds and some slow-moving rain, hail and sleet showers for Monday.

Sun 2nd Mar 9:15 a.m. – Spring on the way?

It’s a damp, murky morning across the Peak District after a wet night. The hills above about 400m are shrouded in cloud. We’ll see a gradual improvement through the morning and it’s likely to become dry for a while in the late morning and early afternoon, perhaps with a bit of sun. Heavy rain then looks like sweeping in during the late afternoon and evening.

We’ve got a few more days of rather cold and unsettled weather with spells of rain and perhaps some sleet. During the latter half of the week, though, there’s an increasing probability that high pressure will develop close to the British Isles bringing the first real spring weather to the Peak District towards the end of the week and into next weekend. It looks like turning into the first lengthy spell of settled weather that we’ve had this year.