In the past 24 hours we have been hit by wave after wave of fierce, bitterly cold, showers, often containing hail. When I checked the rain gaugue at 10am this morning 25mm (an inch in old money) had fallen since the same time yesterday and it was still hosing it down! All accompanied by a biting northerly force 7 wind. Not usual for this time of year perhaps but just a few miles inland I knew the weather was quite different. Yes there was a cold wind but I was getting reports of sunshine and the occasional light shower
It turns out this is a localised weather phenomenon called the 'Pembrokeshire Dangler' - until yesterday I would have thought this term at best a euphemism and at worst a painful condition. Everyday's a school day and I soon learned that when cold arctic air is funneled down the Irish Sea at this time of year it meets a relatively warm ocean and a band of narrow, slow moving and intense showers can form in a vertical line all the way to Cornwall. We have been dangled on for the past 36 hours now but the forecast shows it slowly dissipating by tomorrow
Met Office forecast showing the Pembrokeshire Dangler as at 12:00 today
The 'dangler' in action yesterday as it dangled over Skomer to the south
For a far more comprehensive explanation of the Pembrokesire dangler see this link and this You Tube video
Still it could be worse. At least we're not experiencing the Brown Willy effect!......