February 2019:
Whilst rainfall was near normal February 2019 has
been an exceptional month with regards to some high temperatures as stated
below.
The average temperature for February 2019 of 8.1°C was the third warmest for
Bristol in 129 years of continuous data starting in 1890. This was after a
cold start to February with temperatures down to -3.8°C
The previous warmer February's were 8.8°C in 1990 and 8.2°C in February
1998.
A notable feature of February 2019 (as with February 2018), was the high
levels of solar radiation unusual for the month. 2019 was the second
sunniest (after February 2018) since this data began in 2006. The average
solar radiation for February in Bristol is 28.7% of the maximum but in 2018
this was 36.0%.
The daily maximum temperature of 19.3°C on February 26th was the highest
recorded for the month since this data started in 1938.
The highest daily mean temperature of 12.3°C on the 21st was the 3rd highest
for February after 2004 (13.9°C on the 4th) and 1998 (13.4°C on the 13th)
since this data began in 1994.
The average daily maximum temperature of 12.4°C was the highest since
records began in 1984 5 years data missing). The previous highest was 11.4°C
in both 1990 and 1998..
Winter 2018/9:
The winter of 2018/9 was the 4th warmest in 129 years of data. The average
temperature was 7.3°C. The long term average is 5.1°C.
Warmer winters were 2015/6, 1988/9 at 8.0°C and 1989/90 at 7.8°C.
The total rainfall of 208.7mm for the three months of winter was slightly
drier than average as the long term average is 221.9 mm.
The
2018 Annual summary is here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2018annual.htm
For the full monthly summary please go here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2019feb.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).