First of all, I would like to wish everyone a happy winter solstice.

Yes, we will be entering the shortest day once we get to sunrise with tomorrow night being the longest night.

This means that after today, we can now look forward to it very slowly starting to get lighter at nights.

At the same time here in the northern hemisphere, we are also entering the astronomical winter as from today which means that it is now winter whichever way we look at it (in the southern hemisphere, it is the start of the astronomical summer).

Finally, I would also like to inform everyone that since I will be travelling down to Hawick to spend Christmas with my family later on today, I won't be available to open these threads for the next week until Saturday 29 December 2018. This means that until then, you are free to start the next thread yourself at the beginning of each day if this has not already been done.

I know that caz and col have started these threads in the past when I have taken a break from doing so and so, these members will no doubt be amongst those who would be expected to take on that role whilst I am on my break from that for the next week, but any member can start the next thread at the appropriate time if this hasn't already been done...

Anyway, the weather is fairly cloudy with the temperature refusing to drop as a result.

In the end, a total of 1.2 mm of rain fell during yesterday at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 1.2 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the temperature at 1am this morning was 6.5°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, 6°C at Edinburgh Airport and 6.5°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Breezy and heavy showers. 6.9c

Max yesterday 8.9c

Overnight Min 5.7c

Wind nil

Temp 4.9C

Temperatures at 8am this morning were 3.1°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, 4°C at Edinburgh Airport and 3.4°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Cloudy but a hint of brightness.

10.8c

1000.0mb rising

7.0mm

Unbroken low clouds being blown across the sky in a strong and gusty W wind; dry after light rain in the early hours.

12.7*C after a minimum of 9.1*C at 10.30pm.

85%RH; 997.2mb rising slowly after a minimum at 6.00am.

Some slivers of blue starting to appear after a dull start. 8.4 mm of rain fell overnight but the breezy west wind may help to shift some of the dampness today. 11.9 c & 86% h.

Broken cloud allowing some sunny spells. Breezy.

11.0c. Humidity 72% Rh.

1002 hPa.  WSW breeze 12 - 25 mph.

Overcast, recent drizzle.

Temp 8.1C

Pressure   996mb rising slowly.

Edinburgh was reasonably bright when I left there but in the end, nothing in the way of sunshine was recorded for today at Edinburgh Gogarbank. This makes today our ninth sunless day of both this month and this winter which means that we have already had as many sunless days during this month so far as what we had during the same month last year. This was also our third sunless day of this week as well as the second of two back to back sunless days.

Here in Hawick, today saw some cloud coming and going with some sunshine for a while. It has also been dry here, which has clearly not been the case in Edinburgh where a total of 0.8 mm of rain has been recorded for today so for as at 10pm tonight along with 1.0 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh where today Will go down as an official rain day as a result.

Today's maximum temperature in Edinburgh was around 7°C and here in Hawick just now, it is currently around 4°C.

At just before 8pm this evening I saw the upper half of a 22 degree halo round the moon.  It wasn't very sharp or well-defined, but there was definitely a half-circle of brightness in the clouds. 

It’s absolutely lashing it down here. Quite a racket outside so quickly checked the radar to find we’re sitting under what looks almost like a squall line - reds and whites on the radar!