Guernsey Weather Fox

Thursday

Weather

A similar day to Wednesday, in terms of cloudy skies and occasional showers (some rather heavy and possibly with hail). However, this day will be a couple of degrees colder than Wednesday, with temperatures really struggling to exceed 7°C, due to a moderate force 4 E’ly wind. Overnight that wind will veer NE’ly and the cloud-sheet will open up to reveal starry skies at times. During those clear spells, the air temperature will likely drop to about 4°C and gardeners should be aware that the ground temperature could reach zero in the most sheltered areas.

Surf and the Water

Clean 2 foot surf on the west coast, especially in the morning. Likewise, smooth swimming conditions close to the shelter of those western sea walls. High water will be about 9m at 8am. Low water will be around 2:30pm.

Friday

Weather

Another cold and rather breezy day… sunshine and showers causing the temperature to fluctuate between 6 and 8°C, as the NE’ly blows moderate force 4. This wind direction will mean that most areas feel rather bitter, but the south coast cliff paths will actually feel quite nice as they will be both sun-facing and wind-sheltered.

Surf and the Water

The surf will only be 1 foot and choppy so that’s a bit of a write-off really, but our seasoned sea-swimmers will probably enjoy the sheltered south-coast bays. Tides will be high at 8:30am (roughly 8.6m) and low around 3pm.

The Weekend

Saturday’s weather story will be the same as Friday’s… sunshine, heavy showers and rainbows. Sunday’s will be a cloudier day on the whole but the showers should be much lighter. As for the winds and temperatures… Saturday will have a light force 3 NW’ly flow which will take the temperature to a max of 8 or perhaps 9°C, then Sunday will have a force 4 to 5 SSW’ly flow which will take the temperature to a max of about 10 or perhaps 11°C.

Surf and the Water

If we get any surf then it will be pretty clean on both days, but at the moment it seems a bit too optimistic to get anything more than 1 foot on Saturday and 2 feet on Sunday. Saturday should be the better day for swimmers (especially on the east and south coasts). Sunday should be the better day for windsurfers and kite-surfers. High tides will be in the early to mid-mornings, low tides will be in the mid to late afternoons.

Next Week

A milder but also a windier week. Those winds generally coming from the southwest on some days and the northwest on others… sometimes (briefly) force 3-4 but mostly force 5-6. Temperatures will typically peak around 11-13°C each day, then fall to between 8 and 10°C each night. At this time of year, mild and windy generally means that rain-bearing weather fronts will be sweeping across the Islands. The timing is completely uncertain at this stage, but fair to say that most days/nights will be wet at some portion or another.

Surf and the Water

A much more active week for both surfers and windsurfers. Wave heights should generally be about 3-5 feet, clean on some days, choppy on others. Tidal movements will be much smaller than the previous week though, with highs of around 7m in the late mornings Monday and Tuesday, then the early afternoons thereafter.