your general thoughts about february 2008

[James M]

Well to me it's been quite a good month, snow at the start and a lenghty sunny,frosty spell in the middle.

[Scorcher]

Amazing month in my opinion, it was wonderful in the North West of England. The last week was fairly forgettable but the second week was remarkable- day after day of unbroken sunshine and temperatures regularly getting to between 13 and 16C in my area. I can't recall a mild winter month before that was also exceptionally sunny- this one provided amazingly clear days and nights, light winds and I have never really felt such strength in the sun so early in the year. Obviously the frosts got more severe in after mid-month but the days were still stunning. I was too young to really remember the specifics of February 1998 but it seems that month was quite something.

Edited March 3, 2008 by Scorcher

[damianslaw]

Glad to see others have appreciated the 'unsualness' and how exceptional the month has been.

Look North just did an overview, saying it was a very mixed month in the region. For many it was the sunniest in a long long time and a very dry month, some places saw record lows for the month and record highs for the month...

It was certainly not a 'dull' month, yes very little snow, but at least it delivered alot of interest.

For me it was the most memorable February since 1996, I love the snow, but I must admit the spell between the 8th-20th was quite special on a par with the specialness of last April.

[Weather-history]

EXTRAORDINARY

Thats how I would describe February 2008.

[Eugene]

I have never really felt such strength in the sun so early in the year

lol were you born this year then.....the sun was the same strength in Feb 2008 as past Februaries.

[Snowyowl9]

My top 9 favourite febs of a great variety.

1.1985

2.1986

2.1979

4.1991

5.1978

5.1996

6.1994

7.2006

8.2005

9.2008

Edited March 3, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[Thundery wintry showers]

Amazing month in my opinion, it was wonderful in the North West of England. The last week was fairly forgettable but the second week was remarkable- day after day of unbroken sunshine and temperatures regularly getting to between 13 and 16C in my area. I can't recall a mild winter month before that was also exceptionally sunny- this one provided amazingly clear days and nights, light winds and I have never really felt such strength in the sun so early in the year. Obviously the frosts got more severe in after mid-month but the days were still stunning. I was too young to really remember the specifics of February 1998 but it seems that month was quite something.

I don't think the North West had quite as remarkable a month in February 1998 as most of the rest of England & Wales did, though it varied depending on specific location. I think Manchester got the remarkable weather on the 13th (16.5C max), and had an average 67 hours' sunshine for the month, but on the other hand Lancaster had its dullest February since 1980 (just 43 hours' sunshine), and even the 13th was dull, damp and drizzly with a max of just 12-13C according to the archives. This doesn't compare to much of East Anglia and the southeast which had 110-120 hours' sunshine and maxes of 18-19C on the 13th.

February 2008 might not have been as outstandingly warm, but the positive sunshine anomalies extended much further north and west than in February 1998, a consequence of the high being much further north and drawing in southerlies rather than westerlies and south-westerlies.

[Zerouali lives]

Boring - typical modern day winter month with hardly any snow apart from the first few days of the month.

[reef]

It was certainly sunny, but thats about the only thing it had going for it. Average temperatures here were 1.0C above average on both the maxima and minima, due to annoying mist which plagued the entire anticyclonic spell and supressed temperatures by day and held them up by night. Admittedly frosts were above average: 8 versus the 1971-2000 average of 6, but yet again it was another month without any lying snow.

Overall nothing special, just another mild February.

[Scorcher]

I don't think the North West had quite as remarkable a month in February 1998 as most of the rest of England & Wales did, though it varied depending on specific location. I think Manchester got the remarkable weather on the 13th (16.5C max), and had an average 67 hours' sunshine for the month, but on the other hand Lancaster had its dullest February since 1980 (just 43 hours' sunshine), and even the 13th was dull, damp and drizzly with a max of just 12-13C according to the archives. This doesn't compare to much of East Anglia and the southeast which had 110-120 hours' sunshine and maxes of 18-19C on the 13th.

February 2008 might not have been as outstandingly warm, but the positive sunshine anomalies extended much further north and west than in February 1998, a consequence of the high being much further north and drawing in southerlies rather than westerlies and south-westerlies.

Interesting, thanks for that. I wonder if it felt as warm during the warm spell of February 98 as it did during the warm spell of February 2008. I just can't imagine how it could be better during the second week of February than it was last month- wind was virtually non-existent, even in Lancaster which is quite something!

lol were you born this year then.....the sun was the same strength in Feb 2008 as past Februaries.

The key word there is 'feel', obviously the sun wasn't any stronger than in previous years but a combination of clear skies and very light winds (maybe dry air too??) made the sun feel surprisingly strong for so early in the year.

[Thundery wintry showers]

According to Philip Eden, Woodford near Manchester recorded its sunniest February on record. There are some homogeneity issues, as Philip is (I think) using Ringway data from 1945-2004, whereupon it closed in November 2004 and was replaced by Woodford, but the record was broken by enough of a margin to suggest that Manchester in general had its sunniest February of the past 64 years:

http://www.climate-uk.com/monthly/0802.htm

In Tyne & Wear (where I was at the time) February 1998 felt every bit as warm, but somewhat more muggy due to the tropical airmass. The month was fairly sunny in the North East (80-90 hours sunshine) but most of the sunshine came during the relatively cool first week and last third, while the insanely warm period 8th-15th was mostly dry, cloudy and humid if I remember rightly, and the sunny day on the 13th also had a muggy feel.

It might have been less muggy in the southeast where the high pressure took up residence and the sun shone for much of that phenomenal second week. However, if it was muggy in the NE of England from that setup, chances are it was at least as muggy in the NW.

[Weather-history]

The Areal series sunshine total for England and Wales for February 2008 was a staggering 125.3hrs

Thats sunnier than the average March (122% of the 1971-2000 March sunshine average)

It was less sunny for Northern Ireland: 86.4hrs and Scotland: 84.2hrs.

[summer blizzard]

February 2008 was a very spring like month in my mind, nationally it had a CET of 5.4C, 1.2C above average with a large durinal variation, only 58% rainfall so a dry month, and 164% sunshine, easily the sunniest February on record.