Diary of Highlights

1st to 2nd
The month started on a very cold and wintry note with frequent sleet and snow showers in many areas with north to northwest gales causing blizzard conditions. Stornoway (Western Isles) recorded a gust of 71 m.p.h, Aviemore (Highland) recorded 15 cm of snowfall at 1800 UTC on the 1st and Balmoral (Aberdeenshire) recorded a temperature of -9.6 °C on the 2nd. Further snow showers affected the west and far north early on the 2nd then milder conditions with rain, preceded by snow over the Highlands, with Tyndrum (Stirling) recorded 30 mm of rainfall.

3rd to 4th
Rain continued on the 3rd, heaviest in the west, and Tyndrum recording another 37.6 mm (snow on the mountains and on some lower hills later). It was also windy with gales in places. Rain cleared north-eastwards during the morning of the 4th with widespread frost developing. Showers pushed north-eastwards through the day, falling as snow across the hills. Windy with gales in exposed parts, the wind easing later with another frost developing.

5th to 9th
The 5th to 7th saw further periods of heavy rain or showers for western Scotland with snow on hills, but drier and brighter in the east. Mild on the 7th, with temperatures reaching 14.2 °C in Edinburgh. Patchy rain but sunny spells in the north-east on the 8th, with gusts 50 to 70 m.p.h. Dry and bright in the south on the 9th, but cloudy with rain north of the Great Glen.

10th to 19th
This period was dominated by high pressure and dry, settled weather across Scotland. Sunny spells by day but mist and fog at night with some sharp frosts. The warmest temperatures were 16.0 °C at Glenlivet (Moray) on the 11th and 16.0 °C at Aboyne (Aberdeenshire) on the 12th. However, temperatures only reached 4 °C at Edinburgh on the 11th due to persistent fog. On the 13th, Eskdalemuir (Dumfries & Galloway) recovered from an overnight low of -3.0 °C to record their highest ever February temperature of 14.8 °C, in a record going back more than 90 years. Overnight temperatures fell to -6 °C in rural areas during the period but on the morning of the 19th, Braemar (Aberdeenshire) dropped to -8.1 °C.

20th to 25th
Rain spread south-eastwards on the 20th with drier brighter conditions following. The 21st and 23rd saw heavy persistent rain over the west of Scotland but it was drier and brighter near the east coast. On the 21st, Dyce (Aberdeen airport) recorded a temperature of 15.4 °C and Sella Ness (Shetland) recorded a gust of 91 m.ph. The 22nd was a brighter colder, showery day with gale force westerly winds. Sunny intervals and scattered showers on the 24th then mainly cloudy on the 25th with outbreaks of rain, mostly in the west, with Tyndrum recording 39.8 mm. Windy with severe gales in the west.

26th to 29th
The 26th was a very windy day with severe gales in places, and Blackford Hill Observatory in Edinburgh recorded a gust of 70 m.p.h. The west Highlands were very wet with Tyndrum recording over 50 mm of rain. Drier and brighter on the 27th and 28th with a few showers and winds easing down. Another 60 mm of rain at Tyndrum on the 29th. There was heavy rain then showers for much of Western Scotland but lighter rain in the east. Very windy with a gust of 75 m.p.h. at Edinburgh Blackford Hill.