Provisional figures from the Met Office show that February so far (1 – 25) has been colder and drier than average, while the winter as a whole (December 1 to February 25) looks set to be pretty average.
For February, everywhere is set to have been colder than average with the UK mean temperature currently standing at 2.7 °C. Northern parts have seen the best of the sunshine with Scotland recording 13 % more sunshine than average at 71 hours.
EARLY |
mean temperature |
sunshine duration |
precipitation |
||||
1-25 Feb 2013 |
Actual |
Difference from 1981-2010 average |
Actual |
% of 1981-2010 average |
Actual |
% of 1981-2010 average |
|
degC |
degC |
hours |
% |
mm |
% |
||
UK |
2.7 |
-0.9 |
66.1 |
95 |
58.0 |
65 |
|
England |
2.9 |
-1.2 |
62.9 |
85 |
41.0 |
68 |
|
Wales |
3.0 |
-1.0 |
66.9 |
95 |
79.0 |
71 |
|
Scotland |
2.2 |
-0.5 |
71.0 |
113 |
78.2 |
60 |
|
N Ireland |
4.0 |
-0.3 |
67.1 |
101 |
68.9 |
82 |
For the winter as a whole, the UK mean temperature of 3.3 °C makes it milder than 2008/09 (3.2 °C), 2009/10 (1.6 °C) and 2010/11 (2.4 °C), but colder than 2011/12 (4.6 °C).
However looking further back 2006/07 and 2007/08 were two very mild winters with UK mean temperatures of 5.6 °C and 4.9 °C respectively. The 2006/07 winter was the second warmest on the national record going back to 1910, behind 1988/89 when the UK mean temperature was 5.8 °C.
EARLY |
mean temperature |
sunshine duration |
precipitation |
||||
Winter 2012/2013 |
Actual |
Difference from 1981-2010 average |
Actual |
Percentage of 1981-2010 average |
Actual |
Percentage of 1981-2010 average |
|
degC |
degC |
hours |
% |
mm |
% |
||
UK |
3.3 |
-0.4 |
152.2 |
96 |
345.9 |
105 |
|
England |
3.6 |
-0.6 |
166.9 |
95 |
267.4 |
116 |
|
Wales |
3.8 |
-0.4 |
154.4 |
96 |
501.4 |
116 |
|
Scotland |
2.5 |
-0.2 |
128.7 |
100 |
436.5 |
93 |
|
N Ireland |
4.2 |
-0.1 |
144.3 |
97 |
332.3 |
106 |
This winter has once again demonstrated how variable the weather in the UK can be. Starting with some mild and wet weather in December and a mild start to January it turned cold from the middle of January with snow affecting many areas at times. The cold weather continued through February which was a dry month.
If an anomaly of minus 0.6 degree C is “pretty average” – your words – why is an anomaly of plus 0.6 degrees C – global warming anomaly – cause for alarm ?
You must have known David, that this would provoke a response. I agree that February has been cool but disagree with your summary of the winter itself being ‘pretty average’.
I am using Met Office data from,
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/actualmonthly/
This shows that this winter was cooler than the average, with only five out of the past twenty being cooler. Over thirty years, only ten where cooler. Based on this I would conclude that this winter was ‘cooler than recent average’.
I don’t know why you would disagree with this.
I know it’s early days but January and February look great on CET!
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/
Good luck with the Global Warming issue!