Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

Daily Weather Observations - February 2002

The Winter concluded with a month of weather excesses; February was a very mild month in Royston with rainfall, sunshine and wind speed all being above average also.

The outstanding feature of the February weather was its exceptional mildness, the mean temperature being 3.7°C above the long term average. It was the mildest February in Royston since 1990.

Despite the high mean temperature the highest temperature recorded in the month, 13.3°C on 11^th, was not particularly high for February, this value having been exceeded in February in 10 years in the previous 29 years. The lowest day maximum temperature in the month was a relatively high 6.5°C on 23^rd, this being only 0.3°C below the 25 Year mean daily maximum temperature for the month. This day was, in fact, the only day in the month with a below average maximum temperature! Further, the maximum temperature exceeded 10°C on no less than 17 days in February.

The lowest temperature recorded in February was –2.5°C on 15^th; on this date the lowest grass minimum temperature of the month, -6.9°C, was also recorded. At the other end of the scale the night of 1^st/2^nd was particularly mild with a minimum temperature of 12.2°C.

The mean daily maximum temperature in February was 10.7°C, which is 3.9°C above the 25 Year (1973/1997) average for Royston. The mean daily minimum temperature was 3.5°C above average at 4.9°C. Totals of 4 air frosts and 8 ground frosts were registered in the month.

The mean earth temperature at 30 centimetres depth as measured at 0900 GMT daily was 6.6°C. The highest earth temperature in the month was 8.2°C on 3^rd and the lowest 4.9°C on 17^th.

Rainfall occurred frequently throughout February, but mainly in small amounts. The rainfall total in the month was 48.9 millimetres, which is 140% of the 30 Year (1971/200) average for Royston. On average February is the driest month of the year in Royston, but this is the 3^rd successive year in which the February rainfall has been above normal.

The number of "rain days" (0.2 millimetres or more) in February was 17, whilst on 11 of these days 1.0 millimetre or more was recorded. The wettest day of the month was 3^rd with 9.6 millimetres rainfall.

Snow was observed to fall on only 1 day in February and this amounted to a brief shower on 23^rd only. Several showers of hail also occurred on 23^rd, one of them producing large hail over 5 millimetres in diameter.

The first week of February was notably dull with only 7.6 hours sunshine but after that matters improved somewhat culminating in the sunniest day of the month on 15^th, which yielded 8.4 hours sunshine. By the end of the month sunshine had exceeded the February normal by 27%.

Total sunshine in February was 87.6 hours. In addition to 15^th other very sunny days were 14^th, 16^th, 18^th and 28^th which all exceeded 7 hours sunshine. A total of 8 days in the month recorded no sunshine at all, however.

February was a very windy month in Royston caused by low pressure to the west of the British Isles maintaining a strong south-westerly flow over the country for much of the month. Gusts exceeding 50 mph were measured on no less than 7 days in the month. The highest wind gust speed of the month was 65 mph, this being recorded at 0605 GMT on 26^th.

The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean wind speed in February was 16.0 mph on 26^th, whilst the lowest daily mean wind speed was 0.4 mph on 16^th.

The analysis of daily wind directions as observed at 0900 GMT was NORTH 1 day, NE 0, E 0, SE 0, S 6, SW 10, W 8, NW 0, and CALM 3.

The mean MSL air pressure in February was 1009.3 mB, which is approximately 7 mB below normal. The highest pressure value recorded in the month was 1037 mB on 15^th, whilst the lowest pressure reading was 981 mB on 26^th. The highest and lowest daily (00/00 GMT) pressure means were 1035.5 mB on 15^th and 988.4 mB on 26^th respectively.

The mean daily (00/00 GMT) relative humidity in February was 84.4%. The highest and lowest relative humidity daily means were 94.6% on 4^th and 75.4% on 22^nd respectively. The absolute lowest relative humidity reading in February was 47% at 1320 GMT on 26^th and 1410 GMT on 28^th.

With February being such a windy month fog was a rare occurrence, being recorded (visibility < 200 metres) at the 0900 GMT observation hour on only 1 day (16^th) in the month.

Despite the colder than average December, the Winter (December/ February) was still milder than normal overall. The mean Winter daily maximum temperature was 8.4°C, which is 1.4°C above average. The Winter mean night minimum temperature was 3.5°C, which is 1.2°C above average. It was a drier than average Winter with total rainfall of 104.8 millimetres being only 75% of normal. It was also very sunny with a Winter sunshine total 44% above average at 244.4 hours. No significant snowfall occurred during the Winter, with small amounts of snow only being recorded on 5 days in the whole season. It was the mildest Winter in Royston since 1997/1998, and the driest since 1996/1997.

Met. Observer, Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

6^th March 2002

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