February 2010 was a cold, very wet and very dull month; a rather depressing Winter month, in fact, but without any severe conditions.

Although it was the coldest February in Royston since 1996 remarkably the lowest temperature of the month, which occurred on 1^st, was as ‘high’ as –1.9°C. At the other end of the scale the day maximum temperature did not exceed 10°C until 27^th, and the maximum of 10.1°C on this date was the highest temperature of the month. This was the first day since 9^th December 2009 that the temperature had exceeded 10°C, giving a 79 day continuous period below this value.

The lowest daily maximum temperature in February was 1.2°C on 8^th, whilst the highest night minimum temperature of the month was 5.4°C on 25^th. The lowest grass minimum temperature of the month was –6.0°C on 18^th. Totals of 12 air frosts and 17 ground frosts were recorded in February. Air frost duration in the month was 87.2 hours.

The mean daily maximum temperature in February was 5.7°C, which is 1.5°C below the 30 Year (1976/2005) average. The mean night minimum temperature was 1.0°C below average at 0.8°C.

The mean earth (30 cms depth) temperature as observed at 0900 GMT daily was 3.6°C. The highest and lowest earth temperatures in February were 5.0°C and 2.5°C on 28^th and 2^nd respectively.

Only one day in February was completely dry, all the more surprising given that February is the driest month of the year on average! The second half of the month was much wetter than the first half, however, with 52.2 millimetres rainfall from 15^th to 28^th, compared to 15.6 millimetres rainfall for the period 1^st/14^th.

Total rainfall in February was 67.8 millimetres, which is 194% of the 1971/2000 average. The number of "rain days" (0.2 millimetres or more) in the month was 24, the highest total in February since at least 1972. On 18 of these days rainfall exceeded 1.0 millimetre. The wettest day of the month was 18^th with 8.2 millimetres rainfall. It was the wettest February since 2001.

Although February was not notable for snowfall, precipitation did, in fact, fall as snow on 12 days and the ground was more than half covered with snow at 0900 GMT on 5 days in the month. The highest snow depth was 6 cms on both 22^nd and 23^rd.

February was an extremely dull month with a sunshine total of 44.8 hours, which is only 62% of the 1971/2000 average. Unusually sunshine was 20.0 hours lower than in January, when sunshine was 28.1 hours lower than in December! It was the dullest February since at least 1997.

The sunniest day in February was 1^st with 7.7 hours sunshine. No sunshine at all was recorded on 11 days in the month.

As far as winds were concerned February was a fairly quiet month with a mean wind speed of 5.6 mph and a maximum wind gust speed of 38 mph on 26^th. The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean wind speed was 14.1 mph on 26^th and the lowest daily mean wind speed was 2.2 mph on 18^th.

Wind directions as observed daily at 0900 GMT were fairly evenly distributed through the month as the following analysis shows: NORTH 7 days, NE 5, E1, SE 3, S 4, SW 4, W 4, NW 0 and CALM 0.

The mean MSL air pressure in February was 1002.6 mB, which is 14 mB below the 30 Year (1976/2005) average. The highest and lowest air pressure values recorded in February were 1024.6 mB and 977.0 mB on 12^th and 25^th respectively.

The mean relative humidity in February was 87.7%. The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean relative humidity was 94.5% on 7^th, whilst the lowest such value was 75.6% on 11^th. The absolute lowest relative humidity reading in February was 54% at 1320 GMT on 10^th.

Fog (visibility < 1000 metres @ 0900 GMT) was observed on only 1 day (7^th) in February.

WINTER (December/ February) 2009/2010: Overall it was the coldest Winter in Royston since 1978/79, although the mean temperature of 2.8°C was equalled in 1995/96, 1984/85 and 1981/82 also. This statistic was achieved by generally cold conditions throughout from 11^th December, albeit with no severe low temperatures. The mean daily maximum temperature in Winter was 5.0°C (-2.0), whilst the mean night minimum temperature was 1.7°C below average at 0.6°C. Total rainfall in Winter was 184.2 millimetres, which is 133% of the 30 Year (1971/2000) average, whilst total sunshine of 202.5 hours was 115% of the 1971/2000 average.

Met. Observer, Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

8^th March 2010