For most of February, there was a ‘blocking’ high pressure over northern Europe forcing depressions further south than usual. The consequence was that we tended to be on the northern edge of these depressions, with moist winds coming up from the south-east. The result was an unusually wet and mild month. The total rain was 81.4mm, getting on for double the long term average of 47.7mm, and the seventh wettest February in our 42 years of records. It rained on 22 days out of the 28, only in 2010 were there more rainy days. The wettest day was the 6th, with a total of 17.2mm, our ninth wettest February day.

And it was warm by February standards. The mean temperature for the month as a whole was 7.3°C, well above the long term average of 4.7°C, and our equal fourth warmest on record. The highest temperature recorded in the month was 18.9°C on the 25th, just 0.1°C short of the February record set in 1998. The lowest was -0.8°C on the 14th, the only frost of the month, and the fifth highest February minimum in our records.

The unsettled nature of the month was clearly demonstrated by the barometer. The passing of a series of low pressure systems is clearly shown, and indeed the mean pressure for the month of 1001.5mb, and the highest pressure of 1019.7mb, are both by some distance the lowest in our 18 years of comparable records. The lowest pressure recorded was 975.0mb, which is just above the February record lowest of 974.0mb.

Perhaps it’s surprising therefore that the winds weren’t exceptionally strong. The maximum gust for the month was 36mph (Force 7) from the east-south-east on the 18th, a little below our long term average for February.

And finally the sunshine: this is only our third year of accumulating sunshine data, but the total hours of 26.7 were well down on the past two years. There were just 12 days on which the sun shone, the sunniest day with 6.3 hours was the 25th, our warmest day.

We apologise for the loss of connection from our weather station to the internet during February, for reasons beyond our control.

March has started settled and mild. Will there be another frost to finish the winter? Come and see here next month!

Measure	Unit	Minimum	Average	Maximum	Average min	Average max	Total
Relative humidity	%	61	89	97
Temperature	°C	-0.8	7.3	18.9	5.2	9.8
Wind source (most common/highest gust)	Sector		N	ESE
Wind speed	mph		3.9	32		19.4
Rain daily accumulation	mm		2.9	17.2			81.4
Barometric pressure	hPa	975	1001.5	1019.7
Solar irradiance during daylight	W/m² kWh/m²		95	645		325	26.7
Sunshine (according to University of California formula)	Hours		1.0	6.3			26.7