MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR 2/2005
                                        HEAT  COOL        
     MEAN                               DEG   DEG       WIND SPEED       DOM MEAN  MEAN
DAY  TEMP  HIGH   TIME     LOW   TIME   DAYS  DAYS RAIN AVG  HI  TIME    DIR BAROM HUM
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1     7.6   9.5    13:00   5.6    22:42   57    0  0.00   7  24     6:30  NW1039.72   85
2     6.3  10.4    15:00   2.0    23:33   59    0  0.00   4  17    12:15  NW1040.24   85
3     4.2   9.1    13:35  -1.6     7:51   61    0  0.01   2  16    13:39  SW1036.31   92
4     7.6   9.9    13:14   3.6    23:38   57    0  0.12   6  27    17:05   S1022.49   90
5     2.2   8.1    14:11  -2.3     8:15   63    0  0.00   2  12    14:13   N1015.41   89
6     3.6   7.5    14:02  -0.7    23:57   61    0  0.01   5  20     9:48  NW1020.08   86
7     3.2   8.7    12:32  -3.0     6:41   62    0  0.06   4  21    12:55   S1016.51   87
8     7.9   9.9    14:06   6.3    20:05   57    0  0.04   4  21     2:50   S1018.66   85
9     9.6  10.4    14:08   8.1     0:00   55    0  0.06   8  30    23:57  SW1021.19   87
10   10.3  12.7    16:24   8.2    23:41   55    0  0.32   6  30     0:00  SW1018.22   95
11   11.2  13.1    13:31   8.0     1:08   54    0  0.26   8  29    14:24 WSW1015.81   96
12    9.7  12.3     0:24   6.4    21:08   55    0  0.09  11  43    13:14 WNW1015.62   77
13    6.2   7.8    12:23   3.4     9:43   59    0  0.04  17  44    11:39  NW1023.57   70
14    6.2   9.3    15:03   3.3     1:34   58    0  0.02   6  19     6:36  NW1027.84   81
15    5.2  10.1    15:52   1.2    21:23   60    0  0.00   1  11    12:02   N1027.27   87
16    6.9   9.7    16:39   2.6     0:00   58    0  0.00   1  11    12:38  NW1028.53   92
17    7.2   8.7    12:39   4.3     1:12   58    0  0.00   4  17    11:49  NW1028.64   85
18    7.5  12.2    13:33   4.9     1:12   57    0  0.00   8  31    15:19  NW1026.14   83
19    7.3   9.4    13:51   4.1    23:46   58    0  0.00  11  29    16:30  NW1026.22   77
20    4.7   6.3    14:25   2.3    22:01   60    0  0.00   8  20     9:15  NW1023.93   79
21    3.0   9.5    13:32   0.1    23:52   62    0  0.16   7  22    15:38  NW1014.49   90
22    1.6   5.4    14:12  -0.4     4:12   63    0  0.01   6  24    11:45   N1017.48   86
23    0.4   4.6    14:01  -2.3    23:04   65    0  0.02   2  16    15:12   N1017.85   88
24    0.8   5.3    15:06  -2.6     0:00   64    0  0.01   7  25    12:36   N1019.35   86
25    2.7   6.6    15:21   0.4     7:31   62    0  0.00   7  21    11:10   N1020.46   79
26    3.7   6.9    12:25   1.1    19:59   61    0  0.00   6  21    11:55   N1022.98   82
27    4.1   7.3    13:17  -0.6    23:38   61    0  0.00   4  14    13:01   N1028.47   78
28    1.8   7.9    14:52  -4.0     4:43   63    0  0.00   1  18    14:23 WSW1023.70   84
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOT   5.4  13.1  11/2/05  -4.0  28/2/05 1666    0  1.23   6  44  13/2/05  NW1023.46   85

HEAT BASE: 65.0
COOL BASE: 65.0					

February overall was a cool, calm and very dry month with occasional snow showers.

The month started still reasonably mild with maximum temperatures close to, or above, double figures for the first few days. However this was accompanied by some cold overnight temperatures and the first air frost of the month was recorded on the 3rd followed by the 5th, 6th and 7th (-3.0°C). Conditions during this period were mainly cloudy with a little rain. The 7th was the only day this month to record fog, this is opposed to an average of 7.3 days in February.

On the 7th winds swung back to the south or southwest and conditions became progressively milder again with the top temperature of the month of 13.1°C reached on the 13th. This period of 6 days contained most of the rain and wind for the month. Rain fell on all days with 0.32" (8.13mm) on the 10th and 0.26" (6.60mm) on the 11th - 47% of the months rain in 2 days. We also had gales on the 12th and 13th as blustery bands of showers pushed through.

For the last two weeks of the month things became a lot calmer and generally colder as high pressure in the Atlantic kept the anti cyclonic conditions over the west of Ireland. Only 2 days saw temperatures above 10°C. The last week was coldest with 5 days having an air frost, the 23rd and 24th both had average temperatures less than 1°C. The 28th saw the coldest overnight temperature of the year so far at -4.0°C. There was little rain during this period with only the 21st recording more than 0.2" (0.54mm) with 0.16" (4.06mm).

The 21st saw some very rapid temperature changes as a small depression moved south over Ireland and the warm and cold air masses moved over us. Conditions became colder still after this and the 22nd and the 23rd recorded snow, though only very occasional showers mainly of snow pellets. Winds were generally light and northerly during these two weeks.

February 2005 had more than the average number of air frosts - 9 frosts compared with the average of 5.6 between 1962 and 1991. However mean temperatures were very close to average at 5.4°C (5.0°C mean). Whilst the average daily minima was close to normal at 2.09°C (2.5°C mean) the average daily maxima was well above average at 8.88°C compared with just 7.5°C over the 30 year period.

The month was much drier than normal. The 30 year average for February is 4.55" (115.57mm), however we recorded only 1.23" (31.24mm). That's just 27% of the normal rainfall.

We had:

• Snow on 2 days (22nd and 23rd)
• Hail: none.
• Thunder: none.
• Fog on one day (7th).