Weather log February 2019 West Wales & Midlands

Weather log February 2019 West Wales & Midlands

Key:

WW = West Wales
Lwn = Llanwnnen
AG = Aldermans Green, Coventry
LL = Long Lawford
CL = Church Lawford
CC = Capel Curig
MH = Milford Haven
Mids = Midlands
CITE = Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire
COL = Climatological Observers Link

PWS = Personal weather station

Cold and locally wintry start to the month did nt last long:

Fri 1st first 0900 snow covering of Winter here but under 1cm, at nearby Longwood, a little higher up, a good 5cm

Sat 2nd hard frost Wales, min Tirabad -8.1c, Lwn -7.5c, Trawsgoed -6.6c, Pembrey -3.5c, Pershore -2.7c, Aberporth 2.9c. Sunny, chill day..

Sun 3rd widespread hard frost (Pershore -8.3c, Lwn -8.1c, Tirabad -7.4c, Shobdon -6.1c, Trawsgoed -6c, Bablake -5.2c, Pembrey -5c, Aberdaron 2.1c)

Then mild and more unsettled:

Sun 10th Trawsgoed 25mm wettest in UK (2100); Lwn 18.6mm to 0900

Settled and very mild mid month:

Thu 14th widespread slight frost to start with. wWidely very mild by day with strong virtually unbroken sunshine, exceptionally mild for parts of WW (maxima Gogerddan 16c, Trawsgoed 15.8c, Lwn 14.0c, Astwood Bank 13.4c, Nottingham 13.0c; sun Lwn est 9.5 hrs, Aberporth 8.8 hrs, Nottingham 8.4 hrs, Ross-on-Wye 8.2 hrs), cooler for some coasts with onshore breezes (Aberdaron max 8.9c, MH 9.4c). At Llanwnnen it was only the warmest February day since 2017 (max 14.3c on an overcast drizzly 22nd). Today was though more comparable to the remarkable 16.1c of 12/02/08 which was similarly sunny..

Fri 15th very mild and sunny again after widespread frost (min Shobdon -3.1c).  Max Rhyl 17.5c, Trawsgoed 15.8c, Pershore College 15.7c,  Lwn 14.1c, Aberdaron 10.1c). Widely 8 or 9 hours sunshine (Wellesbourne 9.1 hrs, Lwn 9 hrs est, Aberporth 8.4 hrs).

Thu 21st very mild indeed with sunny spells (Hereford 17.2c, Coleshill 16.4c, Trawsgoed 14.3c, Lwn 13.2c, max Aberdaron 10.1c)

Crazy 'warm' end to the month!!

Fri 22nd very mild/ rather warm widely; not quite a Feb record here at Lwn max 15.8c (Gogerddan 18.1c = warmest in UK; Trawsgoed 17.5c, CC 16.4c,  Lwn 15.8c; Nottingham 16.0c, Coleshill 14.8c, Mumbles 10.2c)

Sat 23rd another very mild/ rather warm day widely ( Pershore College 17.3c, Sutton Bonington 16.2c;  Trawsgoed 16.3c, Lwn 15.8c again, Aberdaron 10.7c)

Sun 24th record breaker! Max 17.7c here at Llanwnnen beating the 16.1c from 2008; Gogerddan max 19.1c set a new Welsh Feb record (Velindre, Powys 18.6c Feb 23rd 1990) also warmest in UK today obviously. Also Trawsgoed 18.9c, Capel Curig 17.4c, Mona 16.5c, Coleshill 16.3c, CITE 16.0c,  Hereford 13.1c..

Mon 25th another incredibly 'warm' late Feb day this after widespread frost (Pershore -3.8c, Lwn -2.6c, Tirabad -1.3c, Aberdaron 7.2c).  New UK Feb record achieved at Trawsgoed (max 20.6c) also this is the highest reading in UK for Winter- time. Other maxima Llanwnnen 18.9c (new record again), Gogerddan 20.1c, Pershore 17.8c, Watnall 17.2c, Coventry 17.1c, Aberporth 16.8c, Shobdon 15.1c, MH 12.1c). Sunshine virtually unbroken in most places (Wellesbourne 10.0 hrs, Watnall 9.9 hrs, Aberporth 9.7 hrs,  Lwn est 9.5 hrs:

Tue 26th widespread slight frost again (Hereford -2.2c, Lwn -1.2c, Tirabad -0.9c, Aberdaron 6.8c). Virtual repeat of yesterday, record breaking February warmth (Kew 21.2c, Porthmadog 20.8c, CC 19.3c, Coleshill 19.1c, Lwn 18.8c, Watnall 18.6c, Aberporth 18.1c, Shobdon 16.5c, MH 13.8c).  9 or 10 hours sunshine for most...i.e. unbroken..

Wed 27th warm again here with unbroken sun.

Max 16.8c here at Lwn the last day, probably, of a truly remarkable spell of late Winter weather!

Past 6 days all above 15c and 60f, past 4 days all above the former February record (16.1c from 2008).

Virtually unbroken sunshine past 4 days (8 to 10 hours daily). 

Nights became cold and frosty with slight air frost past 3 nights, as low as -2.6c. 

Todays maxima: Coleshill 18.3c, Trawsgoed 17.9c, Lwn 16.8c, Aberdaron 11.8c. Around 10 hours sun all stations (max possible)

Thu 28th back to normal, some rain in many areas and only rather mild!

Nature notes:

Quite a bit of bird song even early in the month (esp Song Thrush, Great Tit, Robin) also Owls calling a lot at night...

A good Spring for the Snowdrops..

Quite a few Daffs out by mid month...when it had became very mild and sunny indeed..

Thu 21st Dursley, Cotwolds Skylarks singing! Celadines in flower, plentiful Daffs out

Fri 23nd Thrush beautifully varied and vibrant dusk after max 16c

Sun 24th full on dawn chorus; Longwood Toads croaking loudly in pond

Mon 25th Bees in garden and a Butterfly (possibly Comma)

Tue 26th Bumble Bee garden

Magnolia coming into bloom Lampeter University and Llangranog

Month end: many Celandines in bloom, not so many Primrose as yet, Bluebell spikes getting tall, suggest some could be out by end of March; sporadic Song Thrush in song, especially towards month end: the odd Blackbird singing properly second half of month; some hedges coming into leaf (especially noticeable SW Midlands 21st).

Still plenty of berries on the garden Holly month end. The first ones turned red early in November. Most Winters the birds will pick them off, hardly seen this happen this year..

Lawns mowed 27th, first time ever in Feb, usually we hold out until early April!

Plenty of buds opening, some shrubberies blooming and leaves coming on some hedgerows month end.

February 2019 summary

Very mild, dry and sunny

2 to 3c above average. Most places below average rain and above average sunshine.

Notable for incredible warmth during final week which smashed February/Winter records, Porthmadog 20.8c and Kew 21.2c 26th being the peak.

Rainfall totals:

Valley 50.0mm (91%)
Capel Curig 224.8mm (100%)
Aberdaron 47.4mm (81%)
Trawsgoed c. 79mm
Aberporth c. 53mm
Llanwnnen 84.1mm (82%)
Milford Haven 52.0mm
Pembrey Sands 27.6mm (34%)
Mumbles 57.8mm (86%)

Nottingham c. 33mm
Shawbury c. 36mm
Coleshill 32.2mm (74%)
Coventry, Bablake School 33.2mm (75%)
Church Lawford 36.6mm (91%)
Pershore c. 28mm
Hereford 38.8mm (83%)


PWS

Llangeitho 81.5mm
Talsarn, Abermeurig Bont 67.3mm
Llanelli 50.8mm

Bulkington 29.2mm
Dunchurch 33.8mm
Clifton-on-Dunsmore 31.7mm
Crick 34.3mm
Daventry 37.8mm
Radford Semele 38.6mm
Shirley, Solihull 38.6mm
Edgbaston 29.5mm
Harborne, Bham 39.6mm
Alvechurch 38.9mm
Malvern 30.7mm


Sunshine:

Valley 110.2 hrs (137%0
Aberdaron 115.8 hrs
Aberporth 110.5 hrs (135%)
Llanwnnen estimated 98 hrs (153%)

Nottingham 122.2 hrs
Coventry 128.8 hrs (164%)
Shobdon 108.3 hrs

Winter 2018/19 summary

Very mild and rather dry; average to quite sunny thanks to the sunny Feb

Winter rainfall


Valley 197.4mm
Capel Curig 700.8mm
Trawsgoed c 314mm
Aberporth c 231mm
Llanwnnen 361.2mm (93%)
Milford Haven c 269mm
Mumbles c 288mm

Nottingham c 143mm
Shawbury 141mm
Coleshill c 139mm
Coventry, Bablake School 144.8mm (87%)
Church Lawford 151.8mm (99%)
Pershore 110mm
Hereford 140mm


Winter sunshine

Valley 165 hours
Aberporth 154 hrs
Llanwnnen estimated 145 hours (100%)

Nottingham 222 hours
Coventry, Bablake 240.9 hrs (121%)