Dry Februaries of the late 1920s/early 1930s

[LetItSnow!]

There was an unusual run of notably dry Februaries in this time period. 

February 1929 was a notably dry month with an EWP average of only 31.5mm. It was also a very cold month, part of one of the few genuinely cold winters between 1895 and 1940. It had a C.E.T. of 0.4C.

The first eleven days saw high pressure to our east gain a foothold while an increasingly severe cold pool grew over the continent. It wasn't until the 12th when winds veered east and the coldest period of the month began.

While we escaped the worst of it, uppers of below -15C were marching in from the east. Your eyes don't decieve you, that is the -25C line to our east!

Unsurprisingly for a dry month, the Atlantic never takes hold and we end up with battleground synoptics for the rest of the month, but mostly dry.

The Met Office report for February 1929 with all figures and notable weather events (I will be posting these to save time writing):

February 1930 would be even dryer with a EWP average of 26.1mm. It was also rather cold with a C.E.T. of 2.5. Unlike the previous year, it came off the back of an extremely wet period. October 1929 through January 1930 was exceptionally wet with November and December in particular being amongst the wettest ever recorded. The winter had also been very mild up to this point (5.8, 5.6), so things changed drastically.

A very unsettled start but high pressure built in by the 6th and remained in situ for the rest of the month. Unlike 1929 there were no great cold pools, just one big frosty high.

The Met Office report for February 1930:

February 1931 would prove to be rather wet but the next one was the driest of the run and is one of the driest months ever recorded.

February 1932 has an EWP average of a meagre 8.9mm. To put that into context, that's slightly drier than August 1995 (9.1mm). The winter of 1931/1932 was bizarre in that it had been very mild up until now (5.3, 6.3) but turned colder in February with a C.E.T. of 2.9. It was a very bizarre year overall with March almost 2C colder than January, a cold spring and an indifferent summer with an extreme heat-spike in August reaching 36C (1932 sounds like the long lost cousin of our current era climate!). It was also a year without a winter across NA.

The month begins as it means to go on: with high pressure dominating. It's in a mild position at first but then builds into Scandinavia and we get a particularly bitter easterly spell into the 10th.

After that, high pressure meanders around the country aimlessly before a second bite of the cherry at months end and while this was also very cold it was more tame than the initial easterly.

The Met Office monthly report for February 1932:

February 1933 would end up being very wet but the following year would see yet another bone dry February.

February 1934 remarkably has an EWP of 11.9mm, just fractionally "wetter" than February 1932. The winter of 1933/1934 was exceptionally dry and came after an extremely dry year (1933 annually only has a EWP of 717.7mm) which also had a very hot summer. 1934 would also go on to be a very dry year with a hot summer of its own, a very intense drought period for the UK.

The month starts with a near-miss of a cold spell in which we escape the brunt of the easterlies but still manage -10C uppers.

There were some blink-and-you-miss-it-lows at times but most of the time high pressure was bloated over the continent. The month wasn't especially mild (3.8C) due to the north/south divide in temperature. It was exceptionally mild in Scotland but in the south it was rather cold due to cold nights despite mild days. Not too dissimilar to January 2022.

The month ended how it began, with a cold spell, though it was a rather weak affair. Lack of cold uppers happened then too, more often that you think!

The Met Office monthly report for February 1934:

In contrast, the next three Februaries were all wet with February 1937 one of the wettest on record and not too far off February 2024's total.