February was cold and wet, but set no records

February 2003 has certainly been cold but it is not the coldest February ever, and even less so the coldest month ever, the Met Office said yesterday.

With a mean temperature of 10.41 degrees Celsius, February 2003 ranks among the four coldest Februarys in the 81 years since the Meteorological Office started operating in 1921.

Moreover, if one were to include all the months of January, this February would rank as the sixth coldest month ever.

The record as coldest month is held jointly by February 1929, January 1953, and February 1965, when a monthly mean temperature of 9.9 degrees Celsius was recorded.

January 1981, a month still remembered by most of us, saw a mean of 10.1 degrees Celsius, while in January 1935, 10.3 degrees were measured. February 1956 and February 2003 stand joint sixth at 10.4 degrees.

The mean temperature for February was below 11 degrees Celsius in only five years, including last month.

Most Februarys (85.2 per cent) had a mean temperature of between 11 and 14 degrees Celsius, while on the other hand only 8.6 per cent were warm, with temperatures between 14 and 15 degrees.

The highest temperature recorded this February was 15.2 degrees Celsius, on February 27, which is 11 degrees lower than the highest February temperature, recorded in 1960. The coldest night was on February 8, when 4.7 degrees Celsius was recorded. This is three degrees warmer than the lowest recorded, 1.7 degrees Celsius in 1956.

There were five days when thunderstorm was heard, as well as four days with hail, both above the averages of 3.3, and 1.2, respectively. Sunshine duration was also significantly below average, with 4.9 hours compared to a mean of 6.3 hours. The mean wind this February was equal to the average 10.1 knots, and Northwest was the predominant direction.

The 150 millimetres of rainfall measured at Luqa in February 2003 made last month the third wettest February ever. February 1965 is the wettest February on record, with 187.9 millimetres. However, with an average 62.9 millimetres of rainfall, the month of February is not considered as one of the wetter months. All the months from September through to January have higher records.

The Meteorological Office of the Malta International Airport, the only officially recognised weather services in Malta, has been collecting data according to strict World Meteorological Organisation standards since 1921.