Wales on course for sunshine record

Feb 28 2008 by Sally Williams, Western Mail

WALES and the UK are on course for the sunniest February on record since 1970 with some records already broken in the nation’s hotspots, according to the Met Office.

Some forecasters yesterday warned sunseekers not to completely rule out the chance of a cold snap arriving to put spring on hold, as it did with the heavy snow of late March last year.

Jonathan Powell of Positive Weather Solutions would not discount a repeat of the heavy snow that brought chaos to Welsh roads on March 19 and 20 last year.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said, although, he added, it was more likely the month would be a mild one.

The Met Office said the UK had already experienced the fourth sunniest February on record – by February 20.

At Aberporth in West Wales some 123.2 hours of sunshine had been recorded up until Tuesday, the Met Office said yesterday. The previous highest there in February was 119.1 hours recorded in 1975.

It’s also been a sunny month in North Wales, with 110.4 hours recorded so far on Anglesey, where the sunniest February was in 1986 when 144.3 hours was recorded at RAF Valley.

Records show the UK had an average of 89 hours of sun, uninterrupted by cloud, in the first 20 glorious days of this month.

That was just five hours short of the February record and is likely to be given a boost in the remaining days with tomorrow’s extra leap year day becoming a crucial factor, if it brings more sunshine.

Although the Met Office will not officially announce a record until next week, a spokesman said, “You could say it is a certainty that February 2008 will be declared the sunniest on record.”

Malcolm Weatherall, of the Met Office, said an area of high pressure was prominent across Wales during February 2008.

He said, “After an unsettled start to the month high pressure began to develop around February 6 and persisted until the 20th.

“It has ensured that February 2008 will be remembered as a particularly sunny month.”

He said the daytime average temperature has been 8.4C, two degrees above the long-term average. Combined with low levels of rain, it had been causing daffodils, crocuses and even bluebells to burst into early flower.

In Trawsgoed, Ceredigion, the temperature soared to 18C earlier this month, compared to the average for February, about 7C.

Trawsgoed was the warmest place in Britain – close to a record for February and even warmer than Malaga in Spain.

But the clear nights have brought frosts and dragged the overall average temperature down to 4.2C, said Met Office spokesman Barry Grommett.

He said, “February has been a pretty welcome change to January which was the second wettest month we have ever had.

“But if you get the warm, sunny days, the clear nights knock the average temperature down and the average nightly minimum temperature has been zero degrees, 0.6C below the long-term average.

“The sunniest February we have had was in 1970, with 94 hours, so we are likely to see a sunniest February.

“We have had some clouds up in the north so maybe February 29 will be the key.”

The average rainfall for the first 20 days of the month was 34.5mm below the long-term average of 86.8mm but well above the driest February in 1932 when just 8.8mm of rain fell.

The average temperature of 4.2C is also well below the warmest February on record, in 1998 with an average of 6.8C.

Mr Gromett said the sunny days were the product of weather fronts from southern Europe.

The Met Office said Wales would be cloudy today with rain spreading north. It is likely to be windy tomorrow.

The Met Office classes the first day of spring as March 1, with March, April and May regarded as the spring months.

At Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire, the first spring leaves were out on the Hawthorn in the hedgerows on February 7.

Graham Rankin, the gardens’ director of operations, said that for him this was always an indication of spring arriving.

He said, “There must be nearly 100 different types of flowers out in the garden at the moment, including iris, daffodils and crocus, to name but a few. We also have a fantastic display of snowdrops which seem to be greater than ever this year.”

Traditionally spring has started on the night of the vernal equinox, March 20 or 21.

Vernal comes from the Latin word for bloom and refers to the fact that in the Northern Hemisphere, this equinox marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

But March looks likely to bring more wind and rain than sunshine, as cooler unsettled weather moves in over the weekend, although some sunny spells are expected to return in the middle of next week when temperatures are likely to be 7C, rather than the usual 8C or 9C.

Sunny February triggers a beach invasion

Usually in February all you would see on the deserted rain-swept beaches of Wales would be an occasional dog walker and a lonely seagull.

But this month many beaches have been busy, with sunseekers keen to enjoy wall-to-wall record breaking sunshine and temperatures up to 18C – hotter than in Spain – and closer to typical May temperatures in Wales.

Mark Forte, owner of the Forte Ice Cream Parlour, Barry Island, said his sales had definitely benefited from the “beach rush”.

He said, “February is not usually significant for sales. But there have been a lot of people on the beach, especially during the weekends when the turnout has been very good.

“We had such an awful, wet summer, followed by a grey and murky time over Christmas, that I think people can’t wait to get out into the sun and onto the beaches. And, of course, they associate the seaside with ice cream.”

Nature is enjoying the spring sunshine too, with early primroses and daffodils and sightings of frogspawn, bats, bumblebees and skylarks reported.