Guernsey Weather Fox

Wednesday

Drizzle mist and hill fog at breakfast time. However, it won’t be long before the force 4 W’ly wind changes to a force 5 NW’ly, lifts the cloud and leaves us with just a brief shower or two. By midday, we should have seen the first sunny spell. Then, through the afternoon, it should be an alternating pattern of sunshine, showers and rainbows. The max temperature around 9°C, and the overnight min around 4-5°C.

Surf and the Water

Messy 4 foot surf on the west coast, as well as some reasonably good windsurfing conditions. If it’s a smooth water swim that you fancy then the south and east coasts will be best for that. Big tides again, with a high of roughly 10.2m at 8am (and that’s going to be a rather splashy on the west coast). Low water will be at roughly 2:30pm.

Thursday and Friday

Weather

Force 4 to 5 NE’ly winds will bring rather chilly air to the islands. Cool enough that Thursday’s showers might even have some hail mixed in with them. There should also be some sunny intervals though, and they will feel pleasant in sheltered spots, such as along the south coast cliff paths. Friday will likely be dry until showers return in the night time, and the sunshine should also be more plentiful, especially during the afternoon. Max temps likely 8°C on Thursday and 9°C on Friday. Overnight min temps likely 5-6°C.

Surf and the Water

Wave heights will fall off a cliff, starting Thursday at 4-5 feet, but only finishing the day at 2-3 feet and then dropping to just 1 foot on Friday. Furthermore, the cross-shore wind will make the surf very poor in quality. However, our hardy winter sea swimmer should still manage to get in, and the best places for that will be the south-coast beaches. High tides will be at breakfast, just a little under 10m on Thursday and roughly 9.5m on Friday.

The Weekend

Weather

The wind will veer slightly to an ENE’ly and strengthen to force 5-6. This will continue to bring a mix of cloudy skies and sunny intervals, with the chance of catching one or two brief showers. Temperatures will stay on the low side, with daily maxima of just 7-8°C and the wind making it feel even chillier than that. Just head on down to those south-coast cliff paths if you want a more comfortable outing.

Surf and the Water

The surf will stay small (1-2 feet at best), but the cross-shore wind will probably make it too messy anyway. If you are swimming then best to stick to the south coast, especially during the morning, when the tide is high… roughly 8.8m around 10am Saturday, then roughly 8m around 10:30am Sunday.

Next Week

Weather

It looks as though the whole week will be much like the weekend, with a cold NE’ly airflow bringing mostly dry weather under a mixture of cloudy/bright/sunny skies. Temperatures never making it higher than single figures during the daytime. Cold nights, but often too windy or cloudy for ground frost to develop. Generally the showers that develop will be mid-Channel, but they might affect the islands at times. I currently don’t expect them to turn sleety but it’s not out of the question.

Surf and the Water

Small surf on the whole, although we might have some bigger onshore waves at Pembroke due to the persistence of that NE’ly wind. Swimmers will definitely want to snuggle into the south coast nooks and crannies. Tides will be very small, most of the highs will be less than 7m in depth… starting off high in the late morning and progressing day by day until it’s high in the mid-afternoon.