February Weather

The weather at the beginning of February was cold, dry and sunny with the remainder of the month being warm with reasonable amounts of rain and sunshine.

77.8mm of rain fell during the month (Dublin Airport conditions 16km away) 50% more than we would normally expect. The mean air temperature of 5.9 degrees C for the month was almost 1 degree higher than normal, as was the mean soil temperature at 5.2 degrees C. The total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was slightly higher than normal (12672 Joules/sqcm). The wind was very light this month, and there was a fair amount of snow and hail through most of the month.

In the temperature charts above (extracted from the Met Éireann summary) the cold first week and warmer conditions for the rest of the month can be seen. The soil warmed considerably, creating better sowing conditions in beginning of March

Most of the excess precipitation for the month occurred on one day - 20mm on the 8th in the form of snow - following more than two weeks of very dry and sunny conditions.