Despite cloud and heavy snow at lunchtime today with a temperature of 0c (32f) snow failed to settle on the cars today. By 3.30pm when that solar radiation diminished the snow started to settle again.

...The wheel keeps on turning 

There was a 3 forecast for Sittingbourne earlier - how unusual is this for the lowland UK as a forecast?

(The snow out there was absolutely dazzling again this lunchtime. I'd imagine when you add in the reflected UV, it would have been quite possible to get burnt out there.)

I have been burnt! Couldn't believe it when I got in from a sledging and photographic rove.

I have some incredible photos of the island mantled in white taken from Holly Hill area between Dargate and Boughton.  Amazing scenes.  5 inches of powder, drifting, blue skies and pure pure magic.  The photos are wicked.  I now don't need to travel to Germany for my snowfix, just 20 minutes to Narnia.

I hope so as everything could do with a little drying out at the moment :)

First 3 I've seen for me here as well.

UV 2 at Reading on 5th and 7th; 2.2 at Camborne on 10th. Steep curve from now on.

Reading data not published for the last couple of days.

2.8 is nice in March. No data at Reading since 8th but 2.4 in London today.

UV 3.2 recorded here earlier at lunchtime, just before the next Easterly blast!

I really felt the heat on the back of my neck today, walking outside at lunchtime for just two minutes. Warmth from sun = higher sun and or clear air; both of these help to parameterise higher UV.

Guess what? Still no Reading data, and London, Swansea and Camborne are all slower than they used to be. I note from Gusty's site that we have 37 degrees of maximum elevation now. 45 degrees clears the dew!

Just waiting for some hopefully heavy snow to move in and then more overnight and noticed that Meto has Torquay down for its first UV4 of 2018 for Monday at 12:00. The temp at that time will be 2C! That must be some very clean air or maybe low ozone? Anyway it will probably disappear so took a screen shot.

Looks like a 4 for Exeter and Plymouth too so maybe some other places. I wonder if it does come off and there's reflection from  lying snow what kind of a tan I could get? This one perhaps ->

A 4 is about right for the time of year in ideal conditions.. 

We've been forecast a UV2 today, despite being overcast. Reminds me of skiing.

We have our first UV index of 3 in the forecast for today. 

No Reading data since 9th. Might give up there.

However, since the 20th London's readings are:

2.6   2.8   2.7   2.9   2.0    

3 must be just around the corner- and I know some southern locations have already claimed this accolade.

At 13:20 out of the 11 closest online personal weather stations located near to me, so within 2 miles, 2 stations are reporting UV4, 1 station is reporting UV6, and 8 stations are reporting UV5!

So its pretty strong today, and on the strength of those reports I'm going back out!

I recorded 3.7 today with a Davis VP2 UV sensor less than  1 year old. I would seriously doubt any reading over 5, even for the southwest at the moment, bearing in mind the figure has probably been rounded up.

Thanks for the info guys forestedge/bertwhistle.

Yesterday I searched for Davis weather stations near to me and found 4.

3 within 2 miles and 1 within 3 miles of me.

Today all four of them have a UV of 4 currently at 12:48. I dont know wether it matters but 2 are Davis Vantage Vue and the other 2 are Davis Vantage PRO2. They're not giving me the exact measurement though just UV4 so possibly being rounded up.

I'll keep my eye on these stations and look for consistency between them.

Both Davis stations use the same sensor although they have been modified/improved over the years. I knew my original one was failing when it started spiking at 12 for no reason! 

Most sites seem to round up the UV level which is consistent with met office forecasts.

It's the other way round - there's far more ozone floating around in the spring than in the autumn.

The following dates have the same sun angle, but you're far more likely to have higher UV on the latter date:

28th Feb - 14th Oct

28th Mar - 15th Sep

28th Apr - 15th Aug

The daily ozone charts show this well:

https://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/monthly/monthly_2018-03_NH.html

6.0 yesterday.....in Gibraltar. I mention it for a moment's cheer in yet another dull, wet morning.