February sunshine makes it an average winter

More than 100 hours of sunshine were recorded during the month, when normally there are less than 90.

On average there was nearly four hours of sunshine a day, but there was wide variance over the month.

There were three days with no sunshine at all, while there were six days with more than eight hours.

A Guernsey Met Office spokesman said this was the sunniest February since 2019.

‘The winter sunshine total ended up very close to the 30-year average, bolstered by February’s 104.9 hours after disappointing totals from the two previous months,’ he said.

Overall it has been a sunny 12 months, with the period to 28 February recording 2,136.4 hours of sunshine, the highest total since 1964.

Three days of the month had an average air temperature of 10C or above. The lowest average air temperate was 4C.

‘Despite the cool finish to the month, February ended up slightly warmer than average due largely to milder Atlantic air at the start and again mid month,’ said the spokesman.

While the wind might have felt cold, it was not a windy month. The average was 9.4 knots, while the 30-year average is 12.6 knots.

‘We noted the lowest mean wind speed for this month for 25 years and at just 30 knots, the lowest maximum gust recorded since records began at the airport in 1947,’ the spokesman said.

Over the month there were 15 days with no or only trace measurements of rain, and overall there was 27mm of rain, against a 30-year average of 75mm.

Winter 2022/23 was slightly milder than average at 7.7C, with no air frosts and the lowest air temperature being 0.3C on 22nd January.

‘All three winter months were very similar in mean air temperatures and while December and January yielded some 10 inches of rain, February produced just over one inch leading to a very average overall total.’