General and Barometric Pressure

  February may have been very mild and relatively dry, but it was often dull with bits and bobs of rain never too far away and it just felt poor. After the see saw month of January, it was however very quiet and uneventful.

  High pressure was generally absent during the month and consequently MSLP would finish 5.7 MB below average. It was at its highest, 1031.7 MB on the 1st before gradually sliding away over the next 5-6 days, but during this time the month opened with three reasonable days that all saw some sun and were mild both by day and night.

  Any sunshine would now be fleeting and only the 18-19th during the morning and 22nd / 23rd would see the sun again. Cloudy skies with outbreaks of drizzle or rain would become the theme, but only the 14th (15.4 mm), 20th (12.5 mm) and 21st (15.8 mm) would see any meaningful totals.

  It fell briefly cooler on the 7-8th in a slack pressure gradient with a nominal E-NE'ly which gave a few snow showers on the 7th and a morning of light snow 8th, before turning to sleet in the afternoon. The 8th did at least feel slightly wintry, with that snow following on from a slight overnight frost and a month's low maximum of 3.4°c.

  However, it then became milder with rain on most days, the period of 14th to 21st having just the one day fail to get into double digits.

  From the 22nd it did become that bit cooler, mainly by night as day-time maximums still managed to go above the LTA and after rain overnight into the 22nd, it was generally dry. The only rain of note in this period fell overnight 28-29th. However, all the days were cloudy.

  Temperature

  With a mean minimum of 3.66°c and a mean maximum of 8.93°c February 2024 saw the temperature 2.32°c above the fifteen year average for this site. This saw it being the warmest February yet recorded at this site, beating 2023 by 0.5°c.

  The highest maximum during the month was 12.8°c (15th) and the lowest minimum, -2.5°c (8th). Frost clearly wasn't an issue this month, albeit the number of ground frosts (15) wasn't too far from the LTA. Only five days would have a maximum temperature below the LTA of 6.9°c and the periods of 2nd to 6th and 15-20th saw high overnight minimums, both the 5th and 15th didn't fall below 8.1°c.

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of 3.1°c and a mean maximum of 8.5°c saw the monthly mean temperature 2.65°c above average. It was the warmdest February since 1998 and also the second warmest to that of '98.

  Precipitation

  At Maulds Meaburn rainfall in January totalled 84.4 mm (3.32 In), this being 76.4% of the average for 2007-23, making it the wettest February since 2022 and in a record that commenced in 2008, seven have been drier and nine wetter.

  No one particular day saw a really heavy fall and only six days saw more than 5mm, but the number of days (21) on which rain was recorded was above average.

  Locally rainfall at Maulds Meaburn North was 83.3 mm and at Castlehowe Scar 136.9 mm. At the Met' Office site at Shap, rainfall of 153.2 mm represents 80.8% of its average making it the wettest February there since 2020. And since the record commenced (1989), 17 have been drier, 17 wetter and one was exactly the same.

  Figures from the Environment Agency's rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1991-2020)   'Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Environment Agency (Penrith)':

  At Appleby in Westmorland rainfall of 58.0 mm (LTA of 67.8 mm) represents 85.5% of its average (1857-2023) and made it the wettest since 2022 - since the record commenced, 77 have been drier and 90 have been wetter.

  Kirkby Thore 43.8 -- (60.7 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 77.56 mm -- (76.0 mm)

  Brothers Water 261.47 mm -- (270.4 mm)

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 424.0 mm -- (291.3 mm [average for 1845-2023]) represents 145.6% of its average - making it the wettest since 2022 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 142 have been drier and 37 have been wetter.

  OTHER:-

  During the month the following 'days of' were recorded: snow fell on two days and there was one day with fog -- the wind speed averaged 6.55 mph, with a maximum gust of 44 mph (2nd and 4th and 5th).

  We had 4 Air Frosts in the month (year 15)          --          Grass Frosts totalled 15 (year 34).

  The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 4.7°c on the 9th        to      a high of 8.1°c on the 19th     --      with a monthly mean of 6.3°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 6.7°c on the 1st and 2nd      to      a high of 7.7°c on the 22nd to 24th     --     with a monthly mean of 7.2°c

  Cumbrian Rainfall

  Rainfall across the county in February showed a very broad range with the east of the county recording some quite low percentages, whilst to the south and west it finished as a wet month.

  Whilst Barrow (Palace Nook) was the wettest location when expressed as a percentage (167.7%) at the Winfell Oasis holiday park to the east of Penrith, it was as low as 46.9%.

  That Oasis percentage was a slight 'outlier', but nearby it was 72.2% at Kirkby Thore, dropping to 68.8% at Barrass.

  The LDNP also displayed a similar east-west disparity, Burnbanks recording 78.9% of its LTA which steadily rose to 145.6% at Seathwaite and then 150% at St. Bees.

  Actual totals were also very broad, that 72.2% at Kirkby Thore equated to just 43.8 mm of rain, whilst Ennerdale Black Sail was the county's wettest spot with 523.4 mm (155.6%).

  Whilst the Met' Office are currently quoting White Barrow in Devon as having the greatest 24Hr fall during February (86.9 mm), the accolade will actually go to Ennerdale Black Sail which had a fall of 109.0 mm on the 14th; the 14th being an especially wet day across the LDNP.

  With rain never far away during the month, one would hesitate to say that the first and final weeks were dry, more a case of not that wet. However, in between this, rain was frequent and heavy at times, an inch of rain falling on seven days within the LDNP (eight at Ennerdale Black Sail).

  There were two distinct wet spells of, 14-15th (a total of 141.5 mm falling at Ennerdale Black Sail) and 20th-21st (106.6mm at Ennerdale Black Sail) and within the LDNP there was a third two day spell on the 27-28th (89.4 mm at Ennerdale Black Sail).

  Impacts - none known

  Snow - very limited. Only at Spadeadam was there a 'day of laying snow' and many locations failed to even see a flake.