Summaries and statistics February 2013

[TonyH]

February 2013, Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales

Rather cold and quite dry

All the rain fell in the first half, with no measurable rain after the 13^th. Quite a cold month but with no especially cold weather, nor was there any snow.

1^st – 10^th: Unsettled with rain and showers at times, some hail, and a thunderstorm on the evening of the 4^th. Temperatures variable from rather cold to mild, with some slight frosts. There was a gale in the early hours of the 6^th.

11^th – 13^th: Brief cold snap but without frost and mostly dry, maxima 4c. Heavy rain with mild air arrived late 13^th.

14^th – 19^th: After heavy rain in the early hours of the 14^th this was a dry and mild spell. Sunny intervals, with the 17^th to 19^th being very sunny. Foehn effect from the nearby hills 18^th and 19^th with low humidity and dew points. 19^th was an incredible sunny day starting with a hard frost, low of -6c, followed by a mild afternoon, RH just 39% and dew points down to -2c mid afternoon. In fact the 19th saw both the coldest and mildest readings of the month!

20^th – 28^th: Dry, cold to rather cold: High pressure first over Scandinavia later moved over the UK, a rather cloudy spell with some sunny spells, although the 21^st was a sunny day. Some quite sharp frosts when the cloud cleared, down as low as -5c. Last day saw quite a mild afternoon between frosts. The final 15 days of February were dry, making this the first 'absolute drought' since April 2010 (17 days).

Total rainfall: 67.7mm

Wettest day: 24.9mm 13^th

Rain days >0.2mm: 11

Wet days >1.0mm: 10

Days of heavy rain >10mm: 1

Mean temperature: 3.3c

Mean Max: 6.8c

Mean Min: -0.1c

High Max: 11.5c 19^th

Low Max: 1.6c 22^nd

High Min: 6.1c 4^th

Low Min: -5.9c 19^th

Air frost: 12

Ground frost: 17

Ice days (Max below 0c): 0

Mean RH: 86%

High RH: 99% 3^rd

Low RH: 39% 19^th

Predominant wind directions: North

Mean wind speed: 1.4mph

Mean pressure: 1017mbar

Max pressure: 1037mbar 27^th

Min pressure: 989mbar 10^th

Days with:

Hail: 3

Gale: 1

Thunder: 1

Snow or sleet: 5

Snow lying 0900: 0

Fog: 0

Fog at 0900: 0

[Norrance]

After a long run of over average rainfall finally a drier than average month. 38 mms mostly snow in the first fortnight of the month.

A cool month but with no extremes. Max of 9.2C on the 3rd so no double figures.

Cool nights with my highest minima being 2.5C. Lowest -3.4C. Nine air frosts with another eight nights being between 0 and 1C.

Not much wind with the only gale being on the night of the 3rd / 4rth as the cold front went through.

[johnholmes]

Cantley figures

From 1 March a change in what past data is used as a comparison. I now have 17 years data so I will be using that rather than the combined RAF Finningley 1943-1995 and Cantley 1997 onwards.

Mean temperature= 4.1

Avge Max=6.8 Max daytime reading=11.1 on 6th and warmest overnight= 7.4 on 4th

Avge Min=1.4 lowest overnight=-2.8 on 19th and coldest daytime=1.6 on 13th

Rainfall was 27.5mm with the wettest day showing 10.0mm on 4th; there were 8 days with 0.2mm or more and 5 with 1.0mm or more

Snow fell on 7 days and lay on 3 with a maximum depth at 0900 on 13th of 3cm

8 air frosts and 19 ground frosts

No fog or thunder

Another change after doing checks off and on for about 2 years with sites close to mine from 1 March will be maximum temperatures will be as read and minimum values will have 0.5C subtracted from them

The month was below my 17 year average by 0.6C but 0.4C above the previous data

[leehws]

February 2013 - Colwyn Bay

Temperature -

Mean – 3.9C

Mean Maximum – 7.2C (-1.2)

Mean Minimum - 0.7C (-1.7)

Maximum – 11.6C (16th)

Minimum - -4.1C (20th)

Lowest Maximum – 3.3C (23rd)

Highest Minimum – 5.7C (14th)

Rain -

Total Rainfall – 36.6mm (69.1%)

Wettest Day – 13th – 12.8mm

Rain Days - 11

Wind -

Highest Gust - 19mph (15th)

Average Speed - 1.0mph

[Styx]

HOBART is Tasmania's capital, situated at sealevel at the base of Mt. Wellington ( 1270m/4200ft ).

February - End of summer

High pressure continued to be the focal point of influence - this month its centre slumbering to the south east of the island, as low pressure over the continent edged southward. The Highs positioning here offered occasional cool days ( under 20C ) with low cloud during onshore easterly winds off the cool Tasman sea, but this was more than countered by warm to very warm days ( mid to high 20s ) as north to north easterlies were directed downward over the upper flank of the high. Rain events were few and far between - with low pressure troughs weakening on their southward projection, offering only temporary inclemency. A more humid weather condition developed toward the end of the month as moisture levels increased over eastern and southern mainland. This was the 16th consecutive month with an above average monthly temperature and summer was confirmed as the hottest on record for Hobart in terms of average daily maximum - beating the previous record set in 1899/00 and 2000/01 by 0.1 of a degree. For Australia as a whole, it was also the hottest summer on record.

Average maximum: 23.5 ( +1.4 )

Average minimum: 13.8 ( +1.2 )

Rainfall: 23mm ( average 40mm )

Extremes in daily temperature for February ( Records since 1882 )

Highest maximum: 35.7 ( Record 40.1 in 1899 )

Lowest maximum: 15.5 ( Record 9.6 in 1964 )

Highest minimum: 18.6 ( Record 24.7 in 1912 )

Lowest minimum: 6.8 ( Record 3.4 in 1980 )

[Aaron]

Whitkirk, Leeds, United Kingdom

Elevation 86 metres asl

Latitude/longitude 53° 47′ 59″ N, 1° 32′W

Mean: 2.5°C

Mean maximum: 5.3°C

Mean minimum: -0.3°C

Maximum temperature: 9.6°C (days 15, 17)

Minimum temperature: -4.5°C (day 19)

Lowest maximum: 0.9°C (day 22)

Highest minimum: 3.6°C (day 15)

Days above 10°C: 0

Days below 5°C: 16

Days below 0°C: 0

--------------------------------------------------------------

Precipitation: 27.7 mm

Rain days >1 mm: 5

Rain days >0.2 mm: 8

Most in one day: 8.1 mm (day 14)

Maximum snow: depth 8 cm

--------------------------------------------------------------

Maximum pressure: 1038.5 mb (day 27)

Minimum pressure: 987.4 mb (day 5)

Maximum wind gust: 33.2 mph (day 3)

Sunshine: 83.9 hours

Mean: 3.0 hours

Most in one day: 9.3 hours (day 28)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Thunder: 0

Lightning: 0

Hail: 0

Snow falling: 12

Snow on ground: 3

Air frost: 18

First month since December 2010 to not exceed 10C. Highest minimum was 3.6C - unusually low.

Not too bad really, plenty of sunny days with overnight frost. But, as much as I enjoyed those very sunny days with large diurnal ranges, the 'cold spell' was more of a cool spell with little variation in temperatures and no snow to speak of (bar occasional flurries), with a stagnant blanket of cloud and very high pressure yielding 'nothingness' weather. There was a decent fall of 8 cm earlier on in the month though, which lasted (barely) into the next day before being washed away by rain, and a smaller 'dusting' the day before which didn't hang around for long.

Complimentary graphs:

[SP1986]

February 2013 Statistics

Weather-wise the month was characterised by two distinct halves, a fairly wet first half, and a very dry second half. The most obviously point about this month is the 14 consecutive days with any rain, by Met-office standards this equates to an official drought. The night time minimum were essentially consistently cold, whilst the daytime maxima were more varied, with even some mild days, despite the generally cold scenario. Snow occurred on two days but without laying, and frost occurred fairly frequently on the ground, less so in the air. Overall a below average February to end a run of well above average Februaries.

Below are the statistics for my weather station during the month of February

Mean Maximum: 6.9C

Mean Minimum: 1.4C

Overall Mean: 4.15C

Monthly Rainfall total: 69.6mm

Rainfall days: 10 days

Max rainfall in one day: 15.8mm (13th February)

Total Snowfall: 0cm

Snowfall Days (snow falling): 2 days

Max snowfall in one day: 0cm

Highest daily maximum temperature: 11.4C (15th February)

Lowest daily maximum temperature: 3.1C (12th February)

Highest daily minimum temperature: 5.0C (15th February)

Lowest daily minimum temperature: -2.5C (18th February)

Days with Ground Frost: 19

Days with Air Frost: 4

Days of falling snow: 2

Days of lying snow: 0

Thunder days: 1

Temperature frequency breakdown

Maximum temperature:

0.0C to 4.9C: 8 days

5.0C to 9.9C: 14 days

10.0C to 14.9C: 6 days

Minimum temperature:

-5.0C to -0.1C: 4 days

0.0C to 4.9C: 23 days

5.0C to 9.9C: 1 days

Compared to the December CET (81-10 average = 4.4), my average comes in at 0.25C below the CET average, making it a sligtly below average month when compared to the Central England mean

[Coast]

The weather in February

February's temperatures were below the long-term average, but it was only the coldest February since 2010. There was one notably snowy period between 10 to 13 February, but the coldest conditions were during a spell of easterly winds that followed in the last week. There were some snow showers during this period with a few centimetres accumulating, mainly over northeast England, but otherwise these easterlies were rather dry. From 17 February onwards it became very sunny in north and west Scotland.

Temperatures

The mean maximum temperature in February ranged from 8.7C at St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, to 3.3C at Fylingdales, North Yorkshire. The Central England Temperature (CET) of 3.2C was 1.3 degrees below the average, the lowest in February since 2010. In the last 100 years 26 Februaries have been colder. The highest individual temperature was 14.5C at Kinlochewe, Wester Ross, on 17 February. The lowest minimum was -10.0C at Aviemore, Inverness-shire, on the morning of 22 February.

Rainfall

It was quite a dry month, with England and Wales averaging just 48mm of rain, or 73% of the mean. The second half of the month saw very little precipitation. Scotland had 85% of its normal rainfall with 54mm, while Northern Ireland had a near-average 59mm, 102% of its mean. The wettest location was Cluanie Inn, Wester Ross, which had 176mm of precipitation through the month, while two places in North Yorkshire can claim to be driest: Topcliffe and Loftus both recorded only 18mm. The largest daily fall was 57mm at Capel Curig, Caernarfon, on 13 February.

Sunshine

England and Wales had an average 80 hours of sunshine which is 98% of the mean, making it the sunniest February since 2008 – just beating February 2012. Scotland was sunnier, especially from t17 February onwards. It recorded 101 hours of sunshine, which is 128% of its average, while Northern Ireland had 86 hours, or 107% of the long-term average. Kinloss in Morayshire was the UK's sunniest location with 112 hours, while Wattisham in Suffolk had the least amount of sunshine with 54 hours.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/03/weatherwatch-february-rainfall-month

[Stargazer]

My statistics for central Reading in January 2013:

Average maximum: 6.4

Average minimum: 0.8

Average for month: 3.6

Highest maximum: 11.2 (February 15)

Lowest maximum: 2.1 (11)

Highest minimum: 8.2 (4)

Lowest minimum: -3.8 (19)

Air frosts: 10

Ice days: 0

Days of falling snow: 5

Days of lying snow: 1

Rainfall: no data available for this site; Reading University shows around 60mm for the month, which is slightly wetter than average.

Sunshine: Reading University shows around 75 hours for the month, which is close to average.

A cold month, with daytime maxima and night time minima both around 1 deg C below average. The month seemed to be characterised by long cloudy and cold spells with light snow flurries at times, but the only measurable snow accumulation was around 1cm on the morning of the 9th. The first half of the month was wet, but there has been no more than trace rainfall recorded since the 16th.

[Essan]

Data from Evesham (north of the River):

Mean (1 minute) 3.5c

Mean (min+max) 3.8c

Mean Minimum 0.5c

Mean Maximum 7.0c

Minimum -2.3c day 19

Maximum 11.9c day 14

Highest Minimum 4.1c day 01

Lowest Maximum 1.9c day 22

Air frosts 7

Ice Days 0

Rainfall:

Total for month 33.1mm (85% 81-10 ave)

Wettest day 9.8mm day 10

Rain days 10

Days with snow falling 6*

Days with snow lying at 0900 1

* including 2 days with just occasional light snow flakes/grains - not even a flurry

Wet first half, dry second half. Remarkable for lack of any significant frost, yet still 2nd coldest Feb in my records (back to 2003)