Guernsey Weather Fox

Tuesday

Weather

A day not too dissimilar to the Saturday we have just had, with a very light (mostly force 2) NE’ly breeze will bring inherently cool air, but with long sunny spells to make it feel very pleasant and comfortable. There is only a small chance of one or two brief light showers in the morning, so there’s a good chance that the day will be entirely dry. Max daytime temperature 10°C. Min overnight temperature 4-5°C (with a ground frost likely in places).

Surf and the Water

Glassy 2-3 foot surf on the west coast (perhaps the off 4 footer in the late afternoon). Silky smooth swimming conditions away from those waves. High water will be at at first light, which is around 6:45am (9.2m). Low water will be at lunchtime.

Wednesday and Thursday

Weather

Through these two days a low pressure system will roll from the Azores, through the Bay of Biscay and into southern France. It’s a bit unusual for these weather systems to pass by to the south of us rather than the north, so this means that whilst we still have the usual cloudy skies and occasional showers we will actually have an E’ly airflow rather than the usual W’ly. In summer this continental flow would be anomalously hot but at this time of year it means that we will be anomalously cold… max temperatures only 8 or 9°C on Wednesday, then 7-8°C on Thursday. Showers will likely be fewest and lightest on Wednesday, then more frequent and heavy as we progress through Thursday (with hail likely by late afternoon or evening time). As for the wind detail, Wednesday will only have a light force 2-3 SE’ly, but this will change to a force 5 ENE’ly for Thursday, so that’s when you’re really going to need to wear some extra layers.

Surf and the Water

With these winds, if we are treated to any west-coast surf then it will be really clean on Wednesday and semi-clean on Thursday. We are only looking 1-2 feet if we are lucky though, so it’s only going to be of interest to longboarders really. Swimmers should find that winds are light enough to go just about anywhere on Wednesday, but on Thursday, it will definitely be best to aim for the west coast around dawn/ breakfast time, when the tide will be close to the shelter of the sea walls. High tides will be 9.2m at 7:20am on Wednesday and 9m at 8am on Thursday. Low tides will be in the early afternoons.

Friday and The Weekend

Through Friday, the wind will change from a fresh force 5 NNE’ly to a moderate force 4 NNW’ly, but it’s all going to feel cold (max temp only 7-8°C again). Weather-wise we are looking at sunshine, showers and rainbows, with the showers being skewed towards the morning and the sunshine towards the afternoon. Coldest of all will be the night time, when clear skies and lighter winds will lead to a minimum of about 3°C and a fairly widespread ground frost. The weekend will then be mostly cloudy with occasional showers, so it’s really not looking to pleasant, except perhaps for the slight warming trend that will result from the wind backing to a force 4 WNW’ly on Saturday and then a SSW on Sunday.

Surf and the Water

The surf will be pretty close to flat, and swimming will obviously be reserved for the more hardcore year-round dippers. South coast spots will be most sheltered on Friday, east coast on Saturday and then there should be some west and north coast options on Sunday. High tides will be in the early to mid-mornings, low tides will be in the mid to late afternoons.