back
graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 566 For   FEBRUARY  2003
             MOSTLY DRY AND SUNNY; FLUCTUATING TEMPERATURES
Text Box: The monthly sea-level chart shows high pressure over Europe with a south to southwesterly flow over the UK. The chief anomaly centres were +10 mbar over Sweden and -16 mbar over southeast Greenland, and over the British Isles anomalies ranged from +4 mbar in East Anglia to zero in western Ireland. Atlantic fronts introduced milder westerly winds and a general thaw on the 1st and 2nd, but not before a fall of 5-10cm of fresh snow affected East Anglia early on the 1st. The airflow veered northwesterly from the 3rd to the 5th and it became colder again with sunny periods and snow showers. These showers were frequent and heavy in many northern districts, and 15-25cm of snow fell in the Scottish Highlands, blocking several roads. Night frosts were severe locally, and Tulloch Bridge (Lochaber) recorded -10.9°C early on the 5th. Milder, moister south-westerlies returned from the 6th to the 10th bringing extensive cloud, outbreaks of rain, frost-free nights, and highs of 10-13°C. Several places in East Anglia and the Southeast recorded no sunshine at all between the 6th and 12th, but western districts enjoyed occasional sunny breaks. Strong rises of pressure began on the 9th, and from the 11th till the 27th an anticyclone controlled Britain's weather. Initially it lay over the UK, but from the 13th to the 21st it was centred over southern Scandinavia, and from the 22nd onwards over eastern Europe. An old occlusion embedded in the anticyclone brought rain and hill fog to eastern England on the 11th and 12th, but the next day an
Text Box: incursion of continental air resulted in colder and sunnier weather spreading from the east. Daytime maxima were around 2 to 6°C, but upland districts of Wales and northern England remained below freezing throughout the 16th-17th. Night frosts were severe in places with -11.3°C at Kindrogan (Perthshire) early on the 18th. An exceptional diurnal range of 20.2 degC (min -11.0°C, max 9.2°C) was noted at Aboyne (Aberdeenshire) on the 15th. Much of the country had several days of unbroken sunshine: Morecambe (Lancs) recorded 88 hours in 12 days (14th-25th) and Hunstanton (Norfolk) logged 106 hours in 16 days (13th-28th). Remarkably low relative humidity was reported on the 16th and 17th including one reading of 7 per cent at Great Dun Fell (Cumbria). The southeasterly flow veered southerly on the 21st and the rest of the month was very mild. Maxima in the last week were widely between 12 and 15°C with 15.5°C at Lochcarron (Wester Ross) on the 27th. A belt of rain moved eastwards across all areas on the 28th with falls of 25-30mm in Northern Ireland. Although the Central England Temperature of 4.1°C was only 0.1 degC below the 1971-2000 mean, only three of the last 15 Februarys - 1991, 1994 and 1996 - were colder. Rainfall over the UK as a whole was about 40 per cent below average, making this the driest February since 1998, and eastern Scotland was particularly dry with only 7.6mm at Inverbervie (Kincardineshire). It was the sunniest February since 1988 over a large part of the UK with excesses of around 40 per cent.
                                                                                                                                           
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL        
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                   
                                          Highest and lowest totals                     Highest and lowest totals        
                                              on record for month