February 2023:
With high pressure dominant for much of the
month, it was dryer and warmer than average. Winds speed was abnormally
light for the time of the year.
Rainfall was well below average for the month and there were 11 consecutive
days without any measurable rainfall. The total rainfall was 16.7 mm, only
25.2% of the 30 year normal (1991-2020). It was the driest February since
1993 and followed 4 months of above average rainfall.
Average temperature for the month was 7.4°C which is 1.4°C Above the 30 year
average. The lowest daily maximum temperature for February of 7.4°C on the
25th was the highest since 8.0°C was recorded in 1960 and is the 2nd highest
since this data started in 1960 in Bristol.
Pressure was high and the average of 1028 mb for the month was the 2nd
highest since records began in 1994. The highest was 1031 mb in 2012 which
was the highest for all months. The 09:00 pressure of 1046 mb on 5th was the
highest of the month and 2nd highest of all months since 1994.
With regard to the average wind speed it was the 2nd least windy February
since records started in 2006. The maximum wind speed gust of 33 mph on 17th
was the equal 2nd least maximum gust for the month since this data started
in 2006.
It was the sunniest February since 2019 but at 09:00 hours 3/4's of the sky
was overcast.
Winter 2022/23 With
an average winter temperature of 6.2°C it was 26th warmest in Bristol in 133
years of data. It was 0.3°C above the 30 year average for the city The total
rainfall for the 3 winter months was 285.4 mm. The 30 year average
(1991-2020) for the city is 260.7mm. This total makes 2022/23 the 39th
driest winter out of 142 years in the city. There were 26 days of frosts for
a total of 243 hours. This was the equal highest, with 2013/4 with regard to
days of frost since the data started 10 years ago. There was only one day of
snowfall for the winter of 2022/23.
Annual 2022:
In 132 complete years of Bristol's average temperatures, in 2022 it was the
warmest at 12.7°C. The previous warmest was 2014 when the average
temperature reached 12.5°C. 2022 was 1.1°C above the 30 year average
(1991-2020) of 11.6°C. August was the hottest month with an average
temperature of 20.8°C.
The annual rainfall of 798.4 mm for 2022 was 87.4% of the 30 year average
(1991-2020) for the city of 913.8 mm. The wettest month was November with
157.7 mm (157.0% above the 30 year average 1990-2020) of rainfall whilst the
driest was July with only 17.5 mm of rain. There was measurable rainfall
during the year for 4.2% of the time (371 hours). The first 9 months of 2022
produced 407.6 mm or rain whilst the last three months of the year produced
390.8 mm.
2022 was the least windy year with an average wind speed of 4.2 mph since
records began in 2005. The average for the whole period is 5.4 mph. Notable
was the increase of 'calm' days in 2022 when the wind speed is less than 0.5
mph throughout the day. The average (2005-2022) 1.4% calm days but in 2022
this was 7.1%. There were 20 days of air frost, 3 days, 1 with two
occurrences, of thunderstorms and 3 days of small hail recorded. There was 1
day of snowfall which was lying for 1 day at 09:00 GMT. It was very close to
the average for the percentage of maximum sunshine. In 2022 this was 40.7%
when the annual average is 40.2%. The maximum daily temperature of 36.9°C on
the 18th July was the highest recorded for Bristol. The lowest temperature
of 2022 at -5.8°C recorded on 15th & 16th December was the lowest of any
month since February 2012.
To
view a full report of the Bristol Annual Weather 2021 and a discussion of trends
etc click here. This is a Word created .doc document
which is produced annually for a couple of Bristol Naturalist Society
publications. Please acknowledge the source if quoting any of the contents.
Thank you.
The
2022 Annual summary is here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2022annual.htm
For the full monthly summary please go here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2023
February.htm
The
Meteorological site is situated in an urban housing area approximately one
mile to the south of the Centre of Bristol.
This area is in a district called Totterdown.
Statistical correlations with the Bristol
Meteorological Office site, that was
less than two miles to the North and was
situated on top of a City Centre office block, were generally good with
rainfall and barometric data particularly close.
The site of the station is approximately 34 metres above sea level with the
manual instruments mounted in a Stevenson screen. The screen is sited
centrally in a small concreted garden area. A Snowdon
rain gauge is mounted correctly in the ground but does not have the full open
space required around it. A Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus automatic weather station (AWS) was
added in May 2005 and this is mounted 4 feet above a concrete shelter. The
wind data is gathered automatically from a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus anemometer which is
sited 3.3 metres (10 feet) above the house top.
Manual observations are still taken at approximately 09:00 hours GMT every
day for rainfall and cloud cover. Rainfall manually recorded in the Snowdon rain gauge is entered for the previous day. The
wind data is constantly logged and automatically reset at 24:00 hours GMT
every day (in the summer BST -1 hour. The Davis rainfall tipping bucket was recalibrated in November 2005 and is now
consistently under 3% under recording (an improvement from installation in
May 2005 when 10% was more
typically the norm).
Since the arrival of the Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus equipment in May 2005 temperatures, humidity and barometric
pressure are recorded from the new equipment. These figures will be more
accurate and will be taken at exactly 09:00 GMT (in the summer BST -1 hour)
as the data is now logged to a computer.
By default the Davis
equipment records every parameter for the 24 hour period 00:00 to 23:59 BST
or GMT. Data analysis will enable manual data extraction of temperatures and
rainfall to 09:00 GMT (adjusted in the summer). Due to the 0.2 mm (tipping
bucket) measurements of precipitation recorded by the Davis equipment the
Snowdon rain gauge will still be used due to its greater accuracy (see
above).