WEATHER WATCH: Another mild March for Wick as wind hits storm force
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A temperature inversion exists in a layer of air where the temperature increases with altitude.
This condition is a frequent feature close to the ground following a night of prolonged radiation cooling under clear skies that occurs during the autumn and winter months.
However, a temperature inversion is also associated with volumes of air that converge then subsequently sink or subside from high altitudes in vast columns through the troposphere in weather systems called areas of high pressure that are often referred to as anticyclones by meteorologists.
When air subsides within an anticyclone it gets compressed and warms. An anticyclonic inversion behaves like a lid or cap that limits the buoyancy of the air below. This type of inversion phenomenon can occur at any season.
The physical processes associated with the atmospheric dynamics that result in the creation of a temperature inversion within an area of high pressure inhibits and occasionally completely prevents any cloud development.
The existence of a strong temperature inversion effectively prevents the ascent through the lowest regions of the troposphere, of any cloud or fog that has formed, together with any dust particles and atmospheric pollutants like smoke and smog that may have built up and become trapped beneath this layer of dry and warmer air.
Temperature inversions also occur in the stratospheric and thermospheric layers of the Earth’s atmosphere.
March 2024 was Wick’s mildest since that of 2022, and is currently the 21st most mild in a series commencing 1910.
In terms of precipitation, March 2024 was Wick’s wettest since that of 2009. Analysis of the town’s archive for rainfall for a series of Marches stretching back to 1910 confirmed that it is presently the 24th most wet.
Two “days of gale” were experienced during the month.
Wick’s mean air temperature for March 2024 was 5.97C (42.75F). The long-term average value for the averaging period 1991-2020 is 5.22C (41.40F).
The town’s average daytime maximum air temperature for March 2024 was 8.51C (47.32F). The long-term average, in terms of the current 30 year averaging period, is 8.14C (46.65F).
The highest maximum air temperature for the month was 13.6C (56.5F), recorded on March 21. The lowest maximum was 5.6C (42.1F), noted on March 10.
Wick’s average overnight minimum air temperature was 3.42C (38.2F). The long-term average for this parameter for Wick is currently 2.29C (36.1F).
Highest overnight minimum air temperature was 8.3C (46.9F), logged on March 19.
There were four air frosts. The lowest air temperature was minus 1.5C (29.3F), on March 2.
The temperatures fell to 0.0C (32.0F). or lower at 5cm over the grass on eight dates. The lowest temperature recorded over the grass was minus 4.5C (23.9F), on March 31.
Precipitation was measurable on 28 dates. The total amount recorded for the month was 74.0mm (2.91 inches), or 130.5 per cent of the current long-term average for March.
Wettest day was March 2. The amount recorded for the 24 hours commencing 9am (GMT) on that date was 21.2mm (0.83 of an inch).
“Days of gale” occurred on March 21 and 22. However, wind velocities reached or surpassed 39.0mph/33.9knots on five other dates.
The strongest wind velocity recorded was 57.6mph/50.1knots, (storm force 10 on the Beaufort scale), during the hour ending 3pm (GMT) on March 21.
