February 2011 brought us unusual weather for the last month of winter. The mean temperature was 2°C above the long-term average with the mean maximum +1.6° and the mean minimum +2.3°C. The first two weeks brought day temperatures well above the average but fell away when the wind changed to the south-east and then north-east. The total of only five air frosts was well below the average of eleven for February and was the lowest number since 1997. The total rainfall of 74.5mm was 116% of the long-term average and helped to increase the low figure for the winter period. There were only three totally dry days and an unusually high frequency of days (nine) with minimal precipitation of less than 1mm. The wettest day was the 13th with 20% of the monthly total at 14.9mm.
The period of winter (1st December to 28th February) produced a mean which was 1.4°C below the long-term average. The frequency of air frosts was high with a total of 46 which is 12 above the long-term average. The total rainfall was 212mm, which is just 87% of the long-term average.
