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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 626 For   FEBRUARY  2008
SUNSHINE RECORDS BROKEN ACROSS ENGLAND AND WALES; SOME EXCEPTIONALLY WARM DAYS DURING THE SECOND WEEK
Text Box: the Midlands, Lincs and Yorks, with a maximum of -2.9°C at Dishforth (N.Yorks), the lowest here since late-December 2005. The month’s lowest temperature, -10.7°C at Copley (Co Durham), occurred the following night. From the 9th-19th inclusive, Aberporth (Ceredigion) had unbroken sunshine on ten out of eleven days while Norwich logged 9.9 hours of bright sunshine on the 17th, the month’s highest daily total. From the 21st-25th a strong southwesterly flow covered much of the UK although pressure remained relatively high over southern districts. Thereafter pressure was lower, and there were northwesterly outbreaks on the 25th/26th, and again late on the 29th. Rain and gales occurred frequently during these last nine days in northern and western districts. Kinlochewe (Wester Ross) collected 253mm of rain during the week 20th-26th, and Tyndrum 227mm of rain during the same period with 65mm on the 21st alone. The rain which fell in southern and eastern districts on the 24th was the first for 19 days. Noteworthy gusts included 76kn at Foula (Shetland) on the 21st, and 72kn at Newcastle airport on the 26th. Gales affected the Midlands and East Anglia later on the 29th too. It was often very mild during the last week, and 15.8°C was registered at Tain (Cromarty) on the 23rd. The most remarkable feature of February 2008 was the extraordinary amount of sunshine recorded in most parts of the country, especially in East Anglia, Southeast England and parts of the Midlands were some sites recorded more than twice the long-term mean. New records were established at many long-standing stations, and, averaged nationally it was substantially sunnier than previous sunny Februarys in 1891, 1949, 1970, 1988 and 1998. Heavy orographic rain in the first and last weeks resulted in rainfall exceeding the normal in western and northern Scotland, but it was a very dry month in eastern counties of both England and Scotland. Mean maximum temperature was 2 to 3degC above average in most parts of the country, but mean minima ranged from 1.5degC above in parts of Scotland to fractionally below in the English Midlands.
Text Box: February began and ended with northwesterly outbreaks, but the centrepiece of the month was a long anticyclonic period which lasted from the 6th to the 25th in southern Britain, and from the 10th to the 20th in northern Britain. Mean sea-level pressure over the British Isles ranged from 2mbar below normal in Shetland to 7mbar above in Kent, and the anomalous flow was westerly with a marked anticyclonic bias. A vigorous northwesterly flow on the 1st was replaced by a very changeable south-westerly one from the late on the 2nd to the 5th. Strong rises of pressure overnight 5th/6th resulted in southern and eastern districts coming under the influence of a continental anticyclone, but a southwesterly regime persisted in the north and west until the 9th. Snow fell widely and heavily across Scotland and northeast England on the 1st, disrupting traffic especially on high-level routes; 15-20cm level snow accumulated in the Grampians and the northern Pennines. The maximum at Baltasound (Shetland) that day was -0.7°C and early on the 2nd Fyvie (Aberdeenshire) dropped to -9.1°C. The next four days were milder but very unsettled in all regions with strong winds and widespread rain, and the disturbed weather continued until the 10th in western and northern parts. On the 2nd, 55mm of rain fell at Tyndrum (Perthshire) and 45mm at Lake Vyrnwy (mid-Wales) on the 4th. Elsewhere it became mostly fine and very mild, the temperature reaching 16.2°C at Prestatyn (Denbighshire) on the 7th. High pressure lay over the British Isles from the 10th till the 20th, and throughout this period most parts of the country were dry and sunny. At first the days were abnormally warm though nights were frosty locally; at Trawsgoed (Ceredigion) the temperature reached 18.2°C on the 12th and 17.2°C on the 13th, the highest this early in the year since 2003. It turned colder from the 14th onwards with overnight lows typically between -4 and -8°C, and on the 18th a diurnal range of 21.6degC (-7.5°C to 14.1°C) was obtained at Capel Curig (Snowdonia). Fog formed in many areas on the 18th, and freezing fog persisted all day on the 19th in