Cloudy for the eclipse of the decade

All we were hoping for this morning was for the weather to hold until 10 o'clock so we could witness a rare event - a near-total eclipse of the sun.  This time over 90% of the sun's visible disc was covered, making it the best eclipse in the UK since 1999 and also the best for several decades to come.  But luck seemed to be against us as the clear skies of the last few days had disappeared and the cloud rolled in.

Eclipse 2015 by Paul Taylor

Fortunately, although cloudy all morning, the coverage was patchy and for most of the eclipse the show put on by the sun and the moon was not only visible, but as the cloud acted as a huge filter blocking most of the light it actually gave us a better than expected view.

I was in the office throughout the eclipse so have no photos of my own worth keeping, so I've borrowed a shot by Paul Taylor from the Camera Club, which shows the effect well as the eclipse gathered pace.

At maximum coverage, the moon blocked enough light to create an eerie twilight which lasted several minutes, before normal daylight gradually returned.  The whole show lasted about an hour and a half before the moon moved away, travelling according to the experts at over 1,400mph.

After the eclipse the cloud did increase, and we had a few spots of drizzly rain in mid afternoon (though not enough to register) before the weather began to improve and the unimpeded sun returned.

Temperature
Maximum: 7.9°c (12:10), minimum: 4.5°c (23:55).  Average temperature for the day: 6.3°c
Highest apparent temperature: 5.6°c (12:10).  Low apparent temperature: 1.4°c (21:10)

Wind
Highest sustained wind speed: 12.2 mph (18:30).
Highest gust speed: 13.6 mph (15:55), bearing 270 (W)
Dominant wind bearing: 285 (WbN)

Pressure
Maximum: 1035.9Mb, minimum: 1027.4Mb

Humidity
Highest: 88% (13:55), lowest 75% (00:00)

Rainfall
Total for today: 0.0mm. Highest hourly rainfall: 0.0mm