A reading of about 1049 millibars was taken at Maritime House as a large area of high pressure became firmly established over the British Isles.
It was the first time that the needle has busted the scale since the department’s barograph was built in 1944. But it did not quite break the record of 1051.3 millibars measured at the Maison St Louis observatory in St Saviour in 1905.
High pressure brings settled, dry and often sunny weather. It also pushes down on the sea, making the high and low tides lower than forecast. Yesterday’s tide was between a foot and a foot and a half lower than predicted. The Island is currently experiencing neap tides, and so the lower-than-normal tides were hardly noticeable.
But if Jersey had been having big spring tides, rarely seen areas of the seabed would have been exposed at low tide as the water was pushed further back than normal.
High pressure is expected to last for at least the next five days, maintaining the dry and settled conditions.
