February 2014 Review - Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä experienced one of the warmest Februaries on record in 2014. Temperatures throughout Finland were well above average for pretty much the whole month. This article released by the Finnish Meteorological Institute states that southern and central parts of the country were 6-8C warmer than normal, while some places in the north were even 9C above average. Rainfall was fairly average, but because of such high temperatures, snow depths were some of the lowest on record.

The graph below shows February averages at Jyväskylä Airport during the last 6 years.

February averages at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2014

February 2014 was easily the warmest of the last 6 years. In fact, Jyväskylä saw its second warmest February since at least 1961. The average temperature of -1.4C was 7.1C higher than the 1981-2010 figure of -8.5C. Only 1990 had a higher average temperature.

The warmest temperature of the month of 5.8C came on February 24. That was the earliest date for such a high temperature in the past 6 years. The warmest minimum of 3.1C, also recorded on the 24th, was the highest figure of the past 6 years as well.

Cold days were rare. February 1 was responsible for both the lowest monthly temperature and the lowest daily maximum, -10.6C and -6.8C respectively. And as I mentioned previously, that was coming off the back of the 3 week cold snap in January.

The dates above were also responsible the highest and lowest monthly temperature at a national level. The highest temperature was recorded in Pori on February 24 when it reached 8.1C. The lowest monthly temperature was -37.5C, recorded at Kiutaköngäs, north of Kuusamo, on February 1.

There were 2 key observations during the month that really stand out. One was the lack of days below -10C, and the other was the number of days above zero. The graph below highlights this.

Number of  February days below -10C and above 0C for the period 2009-2014

Precipitation was slightly below average for the month. I made a plan at the beginning of the year to start recording daily precipitation for both Sydney and Jyväskylä, but there appeared to be some problem with the equipment at Jyväskylä Airport and the measurements via the FMI website were unavailable for most of the month.

Looking at the FMI records though, 25mm was recorded. That is compared to 22mm last year and the 1981-2010 average of 32mm. Due to the warm temperatures seen throughout this winter snow depths have been unusually low. On February 15 the depth was only 12cm, well below last year's 49cm and the average of 42cm. By the end of the month, most paths were clear of snow and were even dry.