Data from February 1947
STORNOWAY

Mean Max: 2.9 Mean Min: -1.8 Highest Max: 6.1 Lowest Min: -8.3
Air frosts: 22 Sunshine: 151% Rainfall: 11mm Days with lying snow: 25

ABERDEEN

Mean Max: 0.7 Mean Min: -2.8 Highest Max: 3.9 Lowest Min: -11.1
Air frosts: 27 Sunshine: 56% Rainfall: 69mm Days with lying snow: 28

GLASGOW

Mean Max: 1.4 Mean Min: -3.9 Highest Max: 5.0 Lowest Min: -11.7
Air frosts: 27 Sunshine: 106% Rainfall: 43mm Days with lying snow: 25

YORK

Mean Max: 0.6 Mean Min: -2.7 Highest Max: 3.9 Lowest Min: -9.4
Air frosts: 26 Sunshine: 68% Rainfall: 49mm Days with lying snow: 28

MANCHESTER

Mean Max: 1.0 Mean Min: -2.7 Highest Max: 3.9 Lowest Min: -10.0
Air frosts: 26 Sunshine: 41% Rainfall: 10mm Days with lying snow: 16

NOTTINGHAM

Mean Max: 0.0 Mean Min: -3.4 Highest Max: 5.0 Lowest Min: -12.2
Air frosts: 28 Sunshine: 31% Rainfall: 45mm Days with lying snow: 28

BIRMINGHAM

Mean Max: -0.9 Mean Min: -3.7 Highest Max: 4.4 Lowest Min: -8.9
Air frosts: 27 Sunshine: 29% Rainfall: 51mm Days with lying snow: 28

CARDIFF

Mean Max: 0.4 Mean Min: -3.6 Highest Max: 6.7 Lowest Min: -9.4
Air frosts: 26 Sunshine: 36% Rainfall: 45mm Days with lying snow: 24

KEW

Mean Max: 0.5 Mean Min: -2.7 Highest Max: 4.4 Lowest Min: -9.4
Air frosts: 25 Sunshine: 31% Rainfall: 30mm Days with lying snow: 26

BELFAST

Mean Max: 1.6 Mean Min: -1.8 Highest Max: 3.3 Lowest Min: -7.2
Air frosts: 28 Sunshine: 87% Rainfall: 31mm Days with lying snow: 13

PLYMOUTH

Mean Max: 2.8 Mean Min: -1.8 Highest Max: 8.9 Lowest Min: -8.9
Air frosts: 19 Sunshine: 87% Rainfall: 60mm Days with lying snow: 10

Source: TWO.

My Comments:
This is a good discussion topic. This month
was the 2nd coldest of the 20th Century and as I have said before it changed
the course of history due to its timing just after the war and the shocking
hardship that is caused.
Over half a million emigrated in the next 4 years and close on a million
within 10 years - many cited the hardship caused by this. I was told this
first hand when I lived in Australia in the late 1980s.
Onto the figures it is curious to see that the mean max was above 0C in
more places than I thought. The CET for this month was -1.9C the lowest
recorded in ANY February.
I would assume that when the temperature did get above 0C it was for
only a very short time, say an hour or two in the day. This would have been
insufficient to melt the large amounts of snow.
Not surprisingly inland places such as Birmingham and Nottingham
recorded max temps averaging 0C and Birmingham had a mean of -2.8C.
I would attribute much of the extreme hardship of this month being
attributed to heavy dependence on coal at the time and the frequent
blizzards blocking roads which in those days had a fraction of the traffic
on them compared to today. It was almost impossible to move coal.




--

************************************************** **********
Gavin Staples.

Horseheath. Cambridge, UK. 93m ASL.
www.gavinstaples.com
site regularly updated

"Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with
in vain". ~Carl G. Jung

All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security
2005.
************************************************** **********