February was mild, frost free but very wet indeed
FEBRUARY was the mildest recorded in Leicestershire since 1998.
Afternoon maximums were logged at 10.2c and night time minimums were logged at 3.8c so the average mean of 7c was 2c above normal. There was no cold spell at all throughout the month as mild W or SW winds dominated our weather. I only recorded one air frost in Mountsorrel, my lowest figure since my figures began 20 years ago with a low of -0.4c and Dean Whitaker at Hinckley didn’t record a frost at all with a minimum temp of 1.2c!
The mild SW winds did provide us a lot of wet weather however with 84mm falling at Hinckley which was 73% more than normal with 88mm recorded at Mountsorrel which was 90% more than usual and our wettest February since 2020. Dave Mutton in Cosby recorded 93 hours of sunshine, 20% above normal in the days when the sun did shine. The month began very mild and wet in the first week with temperatures on the 1st. The second week of the month was mainly dry and mild with our mildest day of the month being logged on the 16th at 15.1c in Hinckley. The third week brought us three named storms called Dudley, Eustice and Franklin with my maximum wind in Mountsorrel peaking at 55mph during storm Eustice on the 18th with Dean recording a maximum of 49mph while at East Midlands Airport a gust of 57mph was reported.
We were fortunate in Leicestershire that the strongest gusts stayed further south of the county and that wind damage here was mercifully slight.
Our wettest day on the 20th gave 13.2mm in Mountsorrel during storm Franklin. The last week was slightly cooler with my only air frost for the month recorded on the 24th at -0.4c but at Hinckley temps stayed above freezing and Dean recorded no frost at all for the entire month!
The entire winter was also very mild with a mean temperature of 5.9c which was more than 1c above usual. Only 11 air frosts were recorded over the entire 90 nights in Hinckley with just 8 days where a few snowflakes fell but none accumulated this year in contrast to last winters much colder weather.
Rainfall at 175mm was close to normal. The sun shone for 200 hours with the very Sunny January making up for the dull December. So winter this year was very mild and frequently quiet with just short periods of disturbed weather.
The meteorological spring has arrived but the weather still has time to turn chilly again so don’t pack the jumpers away just yet. Many thanks to Dean Whitaker for his data and Dave Mutton for his contribution too!
The entire winter was also very mild with a mean temperature of 5.9c which was more than 1c above usual