Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

Daily Weather Observations - February 2008

February 2008 was a mild, dry and very sunny month in Royston.

It was the 9^th milder than average February in the last 12 years. However, lower temperatures in the 3^rd week of the month, particularly by night, reduced the mean temperature excess to 1.6°C, resulting in this February not being as mild as last year, or indeed as mild as in several other years in recent times.

The mean daily maximum temperature in February was 9.8°C, which is 2.6°C above the 30 Year (1976/2005) average. The mean night minimum temperature of 2.3°C showed a lower positive anomaly of only 0.6°C.

The highest daily maximum temperature recorded in February was 13.9°C on 10^th, whilst the lowest daily maximum temperature was 3.9°C on 19^th. The lowest night minimum temperature in the month was –5.5°C on 17^th, contrasting with the highest night minimum temperature of 9.5°C on 22^nd.

The lowest grass minimum temperature in February was –11.3°C on 17th, which is the lowest grass minimum temperature recorded in February since 1991 (which month experienced the last significant cold and snowy spell in Royston). After the air frost free January the month of February exhibited more normal Winter characteristics in this respect with 7 air frosts (and 14 ground frosts).

The mean earth temperature at 30 cms depth as observed at 0900 GMT daily was 5.0°C. The highest and lowest earth temperature values were 6.2°C and 2.7°C on 27^th and 20^th respectively.

February completed a drier than average Winter with rainfall of only 12.9 millimetres, which is 37% of the 1971/2000 average. It was the driest February since 1998.

The number of "rain days" (0.2 millimetres or more) in February was 7, with rainfall exceeding 1.0 millimetre on 5 of these days. The wettest day of the month was 4^th with 3.7 millimetres rainfall. Rainfall duration in the month was 20.1 hours.

A significant feature of February is that the month was completely snow free. Since 1972 this has occurred in 1975, 1980, 1997 and 1998 only.

February was a very sunny month and the sunshine total of 145.0 hours was exactly twice the 1971/2000 normal and the highest such February value since at least 1998. This follows the trend of the last 10 years when average February sunshine has increased significantly.

Only 2 days (14^th and 22^nd) in the month were completely sunless. The sunniest day of the month was 18^th with 9.4 hours sunshine. On this day in the morning fog patches affected the South Cambridgeshire Plain just to the north of Royston, although Royston itself remained clear.

The strongest winds in February were reserved for the last few hours of the month and the highest wind gust of 58 mph occurred at 2015 hours on 29^th. A very windy night followed and this value was eclipsed by a gust of 62 mph at 0455 GMT on 1^st March. The mean wind speed over the whole month was 6.0 mph.

The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean wind speed was 13.6 mph on 22^nd, whilst the lowest daily mean wind speed was 0.2 mph on 18th.

The analysis of wind directions as observed at 0900 GMT daily was NORTH 0 days, NE 2, E 3, SE 1, S 6, SW 9, W 4, NW 1 and CALM 3.

The mean MSL air pressure in February was 1020.3 mB, which is 3 mB above the 30 Year (1976/2005) average. The highest and lowest pressure values in February were 1043 mB and 985 mB on 16^th and 4^th respectively.

The mean relative humidity in February was 85.3%, the daily (00/00 GMT) mean relative humidity peaking at 99.1% on 19^th and recording its lowest daily mean value of 67.5% on 10^th. The absolute lowest relative humidity reading in the month was 32% at 1415 GMT on 10^th.

Fog (visibility < 1000 metres) was observed at the 0900 GMT observation hour on 19^th and 20^th, with visibility on 19^th falling below the 200 metres threshold.

WINTER (December/February) 2007/8 : The mean daily maximum temperature in Winter was 9.1°C (+2.1), the mean daily minimum temperature was 3.5°C (+1.2), total rainfall was 113.4 millimetres (82%), and total sunshine was 295.6 hours (168%). It was the 6^th mildest Winter since 1972/3 and the driest Winter since 2005/6 only.

Met. Observer, Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

6^th March 2008

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