Dry and cold

Temperatures

The average maximum temperature during February 2018 in Shoreham was 6.5 Celsius (44F), and that was over 1 degree Celsius (1.8F) below normal for the time of year. The average minimum temperature was 0.9 Celsius (34F), and that was  more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.5F) below  the February normal.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was 11.2 Celsius (52F) on the 19th, but there were only 2  other days with maxima above 10 Celsius (50F), the 15th and 18th, with highs of 10.4 and 10.1 Celsius (50F) respectively. On most days  (17) the temperature rose to between 5 and 8 Celsius (41-46F), but there were several cold days. Prior to the 26th, the 6th, with a high of 4.5 Celsius (40F), was the only day when the temperature failed to reach 5 Celsius (41F). However, the last 3 days of the month became steadily colder.  A high of 2.3 Celsius (36F) on the 26th was followed by minus 0.2 Celsius (32F) on the 27th. On the last day of the month a maximum of minus 0.7 Celsius (31F)  was the lowest in February for 24 years, and the lowest so late in the Winter since 1986.

There were very few mild nights during February. In fact, there were only 3 nights when the temperature stayed above 5 Celsius (41F). The 15th and 19th had lows of 6.4 and 6.9 Celsius (44-45F) respectively, but the mildest night of the month was the 20th when the temperature only fell to 9.3 Celsius (49F). On the first 4 nights of February the temperature was 2 Celsius (36F) or higher, and after the 20th there were no minima above 2 Celsius (36F). In between, there was a mixture of cold  and less cold nights. On 4 occasions minima were below minus 2 Celsius (28F), including minus 3.3 Celsius (26F) on the 8th, and minus 3.4 Celsius (26F) on  the 27th. The last complete night of the month was the coldest with a dawn temperature of minus 5.4 Celsius (22F).

The sea temperature was around  8  Celsius (46F) at first, soon falling to 7 Celsius (45F) where it remained for most of the month. However, there was a further drop to 5 or 6 Celsius (41-43F) on the last few days of February.

Frost

There were 12 air frosts in central  Shoreham during February, with 6 of them occurring between the 7th and 16th, and the other 6 on consecutive nights beginning on the 23rd. Most of the air frosts were slight, with 7 of the frosty nights having minimum temperatures between minus 2 and zero Celsius (28-32F) . There were 17 grass frosts during the month,  with 4 of these occurring on consecutive days beginning on the 5th,  and a further 7 confined to the last week of February. The 4 grass frosts during the first week had minim um temperatures above minus 3 Celsius (27F), but on the 8th a ground temperature of minus 7.8 Celsius (18F) was recorded. This temperature was matched on  the 12th, and there were a further 5 nights when the grass minimum dipped below minus 5 Celsius (23F).  

Rain

There were 35.4 millimetres (1.4 ins.) of rain during February and that was less than half the monthly average. Rain fell on 14 days, about 3 days below what one would expect at this time of year, and wet days ( rainfall of 1 millimetre (0.04 ins) or more)  amounted to 7 days.  Although the beginning of the month was unsettled, amounts of rain during the first week were generally small, with the highest total of 1.8 millimetres (0.08 ins.) falling on  the 3rd. On the 8th,  cloud thickened in  the evening and overnight rain produced 6.6 millimetres (0.26 ins.). Another 3.4 millimetres (0.15 ins.) was attributed to the 10th, but it was the end of the second week that produced the wettest weather of the month.   On the 13th a total of 4.6 millimetres (0.2 ins.) fell, but the following day was wetter. On the 14th, rain for much of the day helped to give a total of 13.2 millimetres (0.5 ins.). No more than 4 millimetres (0.15 ins.) fell during the rest of the month, and this included 5 consecutive dry days between the 21st and 25th. The wettest day during this period was the 18th when 1.6 millimetres (0.06 ins) were measured.

*A rain day is from 0900-0900 UTC

Snow

Sleet or snow fell on 6 days during February. A light sleet shower fell late in the morning of the 5th, with a light snow shower falling in the early hours of the 7th. The snow lay in small patches through the morning. On the 12th, there were showers during the evening, one of which fell as sleet. The snowiest weather occurred at the end of the month. Light snow showers fell late on the morning of the 26th, with moderate falls in the evening.  Further snow showers fell on the 27th and 28th, and with the temperature falling below freezing at 1700 hours on the 26th and remaining sub-zero for the remainder of the month, it was inevitable that the snow settled. On the morning of the 27th there were 4 cm (<2 ins.) of snow lying, this decreased to 2 cm (<1 in.) on the 28th    The reduction was mainly due to the powdery nature of the snow, and the dryness of the brisk easterly wind which was accompanied by relative humidity values below 40%.

Hail

There was a  light shower of small hail late evening on the 12th.

Thunder

There was no thunder reported in Shoreham during February.

Wind

February broke the train of ‘westerly’ months. The first week had winds varying between northeast and northwest, followed by a week of breezes mainly from the northwest. A trend towards south or southeasterly winds in the third week was followed by increasingly cold winds from between east and northeast for the remainder of the month. The strongest winds mainly occurred during the second and fourth weeks of the month. At Shoreham Airport,  a gust of 33 knots (38 mph) was recorded early on the 9th, with 32 knots (37 mph) on the evening of the 10th. A similar value was logged early in the afternoon on the 12th. On the morning of the 13th there were gusts of 36 and 38 knots (41-43 mph) and the final gusts of the month above 30 knots occurred on the afternoon and evening of the 28th, when 32 knots (37 mph) was measured.

Fog

No fog was observed from central Shoreham during February.

Statistics for February 2018