University Weather Watch – February 2012
Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:19:00 GMT
A drying time...
FEBRUARY was a particularly dry month for the time of year. A total of 25.2mm of rainfall was recorded during the month, just 34% of the expected rainfall figure of 73.34mm expected for this time of the year, making it the third equal driest February since our records began.
The wettest day of the month was Wednesday 22nd with 6.8mm of rainfall (27% of the month’s total). Twelve days of the month escaped rainfall, the driest spell falling between Friday 10th and Wednesday 15th.
The average figures are those recorded since 1990 from the School of Applied Sciences weather station.
A cold start to February meant temperatures fell below zero on all but one of the first 11 days of the month. The monthly mean temperature was 5.34˚C just below the average figure for February of 5.51˚C. The warmest day of the month was Thursday 23rd with an average temperature of 12.6˚C making it the warmest February day since 2004 when a temperature of 13.9˚C was recorded.
The highest maximum temperature of 17.1˚C was also recorded on the 23rd making it the second highest recorded temperature for February since our records began, the highest temperature being 17.5˚C recorded in 2008. The coldest day of the month was Wednesday 8th with an average temperature of -1.7˚C, the lowest minimum temperature of -5.1˚C was also recorded on this day, the third lowest minimum temperature for February since our records began. The temperature fell below zero on 10 days of the month.
The mean wind speed for the month was 11.66km/hr. The highest mean wind speed was 30.96km/hr recorded on Monday 20th. The highest gust of wind for the whole month was 98.28km/hr recorded on Friday 17th.
The prevailing wind direction for the month was west.
The monthly University of Huddersfield Weather Watch is compiled and written from data gathered at the University’s weather station by Julie Walker, Resource Centre and Environmental Technician, in the School of Applied Sciences.
