Chilly temperatures and showers look likely for the rest of the week - weather column by Ashley Nelis

While initially sunny and crisp with overnight frosts, it has descended in recent days to a chilly anti-cyclonic gloom, with cloud persisting day and night.

While the weather has remained fairly benign in this part of the world, something rather extraordinary did occur last weekend, although likely unbeknown to most.

The recent volcanic eruption in Tonga last weekend was so violent that it actually did manage to send shock waves around the world. The noise of the eruption was also heard as far away as Alaska, some 6,000 miles away.

The shock waves from the eruption were measured by sudden but small changes in atmospheric pressure, which rippled around the world and were even recorded across the UK, and indeed across the Vale.

Last Saturday evening we typically saw a change in pressure between 1 and 2hPa. While this is not a large change in pressure to be enough to be noticed by humans, animals such as dogs seemed to respond to the change in pressure.

The last notable volcanic eruption that left some influence on the UK was the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. The ash cloud from this drifted into Europe during the spring of 2010, causing all flights across north-west Europe, including the UK, to be grounded for several weeks.

The weather for the rest of the week will see dry and chilly conditions lingering for the next couple of days. Into the weekend however, it looks to turn unsettled with the risk of some showers but also rather fresh north-westerly winds. Temperatures stay on the rather chilly side.