February 2009
The River Otter and Budleigh Salterton on a grey and cold January day.
Dartmoor snow in early February.
Summary for  February 2009
Mean Max: 8.7ºC (+0.1ºC)
Mean Min: 2.9ºC (+0.1ºC)
Mean: 5.8ºC (+0.1ºC)
     
High Max: 14.3ºC 23rd
Low Max: 1.9ºC 2nd
High Min: 8.2ºC 27th
Low Min: -3.6ºC 3rd
Mean Grass Min: 0.3ºC  
Grass Min: -5.2ºC 2nd
     
Rain Total (gauge): 0.0 mm (0%)
Rain Total (tipping bucket): 53.6 mm (70%)
Rain Days >0.2 mm: 10 Days  
Rain Days >1.0 mm: 9 Days  
Max 24 hrs: 20.9 mm 9th
Days without any rain: 18  
     
Air Frost: 6 Days  
Ground Frost: 11 Days  
Snow Falling: 3 Days  
Snow (50%) @ 9am: 2 Days  
Thunder Heard: 0 Days  
Hail <5 mm: 1 Days  
Hail >5 mm: 0 Days  
Fog @ 9am: 1 Days  
     
Total Monthly Sunshine: 68h:48m  
Total Monthly Sunshine: 68.8 Hours  
Most Sunshine in a Day: 08h:13m 7th
Average Daily Sunshine: 02h:27m  
Sunless Days: 6 Days  
Cloudless Days: 1 Days  
Total Possible Sunshine: 281h:45m  
Percentage of Total Sun: 24%  
     
Mean Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 4.8ºC  
Min Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 2.2ºC 6th
Max Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 7.2ºC 23rd
Mean Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 5.3ºC  
Min Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 4.2ºC 11th
Max Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 6.7ºC 27th
     
Mean 10 Min Wind >39 mph: 0.1 Days  
N: 3.29 Days  
NE: 2.86 Days  
E: 2.01 Days  
SE: 2.46 Days  
S: 0.74 Days  
SW: 2.08 Days  
W: 8.00 Days  
NW: 3.05 Days  
Calm: 8.91 Days  
Mean Wind: 3.5 mph  
Max Gust: 33 mph 6th
     
Mean Cloud Cover: 67%  
Mean RH @ 9am: 87%  
Rain Duration >0.1mm/hour: 39.8 Hours  
Frost Duration: 67.3 Hours  
Max Frost Duration in a Day: 19.3 Hours 2nd
     
Mean Sea Temperature: 7.3ºC  
Normal for Month:    
Max Sea Temperature: 7.7ºC 20th
Min Sea Temperature: 6.8ºC 10th
     
Mean Pressure @ 9am: 1016.0 hPa (+0.9 hPa)
Mean Pressure: 1015.4 hPa (+0.3 hPa)
Max Pressure: 1034.3 hPa 21st
Min Pressure: 978.0 hPa 9th
     
Max Dewpoint: 7.9ºC 22nd
Min Dewpoint: -7.8ºC 1st
Mean Dewpoint: 1.9ºC  
     
Max Humidity: 92% 9th
Min Humidity: 57% 1st
Mean Humidity: 80% (-4)

 

A wet and cold start with some snowfall, then settled, dry and much warmer.

The sustained 'warmth' from the 13th onwards is noteworthy with a mean minimum temperature of 5.3°C (+2.5°C) and no air frosts. Mean maximum temperature for the same period was 11.1°C (+2.5°C). The coldest February since 2006 and the first lying snow recorded since November 25th 2005.
Only 2.1 mm of rain fell from the 11th - 28th and was typical of a winter that was dominated by short, very wet periods followed by long, dry spells.
This month was quite frosty but not exceptionally so, and there was rather a high number of grass frosts.
Sunshine levels were below average and there were quite a lot of days without any sunshine whatsoever.
Soil temperatures were generally below normal but recovered towards the end of the month.
Winds dominated from the west, north-west and north sectors.
There were 6 air frosts which amounted to a total time of just over 67 hours with temperatures below 0°C.
Sea temperatures gradually rose from about mid-month onwards.
Mean pressure was +0.3 hPa above normal.
Dewpoints were significantly low at times during the first week of the month.
This cold, dry air at the beginning of the month meant relative humidity ended up being below normal.
Weather Data for Otter Valley, Devon.  February 2009  
  Temp (oC) Hum (RH%) Dewpoint (oC) Wind (mph) Rain Pressure (hPa) Grass Sun  
  Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Max Ave Run mm Min Max Ave Min Hours Observations
1 0.1 4.7 2.4 57 82 70 -7.8 1.5 -3.2 28 7.8 186 0.0 1006 1009 1008 -4.4 0.0 Bright all day, cold wind
2 -2.8 1.9 -0.5 67 85 76 -7.0 -3.0 -5.0 24 7.0 169 0.0 993 1007 1000 -5.2 2.5 Sun am, snow showers pm
3 -3.6 5.1 0.8 69 90 80 -6.5 0.9 -2.8 22 3.3 78 1.5 991 994 993 -3.3 4.3 Sun am, rain, snow pm
4 2.2 6.6 4.4 61 89 75 -3.0 2.0 -0.5 31 7.1 171 2.9 987 994 991 -1.9 1.4 Sunshine & showers
5 1.1 3.3 2.2 84 89 87 -1.5 0.9 -0.3 23 6.3 151 2.4 985 989 987 0.2 0.2 Sunny ints am, cloudy pm
6 0.6 2.0 1.3 76 90 83 -3.1 -0.4 -1.8 33 10.5 251 14.4 987 995 991 -0.1 1.3 Snow am, sunny ints pm
7 -2.8 5.2 1.2 71 89 80 -5.6 1.3 -2.2 20 3.6 87 3.6 995 1003 999 -3.1 8.2 Sunny all day
8 -2.1 5.4 1.7 85 91 88 -4.9 3.5 -0.7 16 1.7 42 3.1 1000 1004 1002 -3.3 0.2 Brief sunny ints am, rain pm
9 3.3 6.1 4.7 89 92 91 0.4 4.4 2.4 23 4.2 100 20.9 978 1003 990 1.0 0.0 Rain all day
10 2.3 8.9 5.6 64 90 77 -0.9 3.4 1.3 28 9.6 231 2.6 978 1014 996 0.4 6.0 Sunny intervals all day
11 -0.7 9.5 4.4 71 92 82 -2.8 6.9 2.1 14 1.2 30 0.0 1014 1022 1018 -3.2 4.5 Fog am, sunny ints pm
12 -1.4 6.7 2.7 57 89 73 -4.0 1.9 -1.1 14 1.3 31 0.0 1022 1028 1025 -4.4 3.7 Sunny intervals all day
13 5.7 10.5 8.1 79 90 85 1.9 6.6 4.3 14 3.3 80 0.0 1022 1026 1024 1.5 2.5 Sunny am, cloudy pm
14 4.1 7.6 5.9 66 84 75 0.0 2.1 1.1 8 0.7 16 0.0 1026 1030 1028 2.2 0.0 Cloudy all day
15 3.6 10.8 7.2 70 88 79 0.2 6.1 3.2 12 1.2 28 0.0 1028 1030 1029 0.7 3.6 Sunny intervals all day
16 2.3 11.4 6.9 72 91 82 -0.7 6.8 3.1 14 1.8 43 0.0 1028 1029 1028 -1.5 3.1 Sunny intervals all day
17 6.6 12.6 9.6 64 89 77 3.5 6.1 4.8 20 3.1 76 0.7 1027 1029 1028 2.5 4.7 Sunny intervals all day
18 7.4 11.4 9.4 81 88 85 4.4 7.5 6.0 8 1.6 39 0.0 1025 1028 1027 5.1 0.2 Cloudy all day
19 7.3 9.5 8.4 82 90 86 4.0 7.0 5.5 9 0.9 21 1.4 1026 1030 1028 5.4 0.4 Drizzle am, bright pm
20 3.2 12.3 7.8 69 91 80 -0.1 7.3 3.6 8 0.8 18 0.0 1029 1033 1031 -0.1 4.1 Sunny intervals all day
21 2.5 11.1 6.8 73 91 82 0.0 6.2 3.1 20 3.6 86 0.0 1032 1034 1033 0.6 5.1 Sunny intervals all day
22 3.4 13.0 8.2 67 91 79 0.4 7.9 4.2 27 5.4 131 0.0 1028 1033 1030 0.2 3.3 Sunny intervals all day
23 5.1 14.3 9.7 61 88 75 1.6 7.0 4.3 14 2.2 52 0.0 1025 1029 1027 1.7 6.0 Sunny intervals all day
24 3.6 10.7 7.2 75 90 83 0.4 7.4 3.9 6 0.2 4 0.0 1026 1029 1027 0.7 0.0 Cloudy all day
25 7.3 9.6 8.5 77 85 81 3.9 5.5 4.7 11 1.2 30 0.0 1028 1030 1029 5.6 0.0 Cloudy all day
26 7.2 11.6 9.4 64 86 75 2.6 5.3 4.0 19 3.7 88 0.0 1024 1029 1026 4.7 1.6 Sunny intervals all day
27 8.2 10.4 9.3 74 88 81 4.3 6.2 5.3 16 3.7 88 0.0 1020 1024 1022 5.1 0.0 Cloudy all day
28 7.1 10.4 8.8 65 84 75 1.9 4.5 3.2 16 2.1 45 0.0 1010 1020 1015 2.6 1.9 Brief sunny intervals all day
2.9 8.7 5.8 71 89 80 -0.7 4.4 1.9 18 3.5 2371 53.6 1012 1019 1015 0.3 68.8  

Graphs for February 2009
Figure 1. Temperature and Rainfall for February 2009.
Figure 2. Sunshine, air pressure and mean wind speed for February 2009.
Figure 3. Wind direction for February 2009.
Figure 4. Soil & sea surface temperature (SST) for Lyme Bay for February 2009.
Figure 5. Wind run, maximum gusts and mean pressure for February 2009.