Max (Celsius)

Min (Celsius)

Rainfall (mm)

AIRHEAD

31.2

24.3

2.4

TRAVELLERS

33.7

21.9

6.7

RESIDENCY

27.6

19.7

7.4

GEORGETOWN

32.1

23.4

6.5

ST. HELENA

23.7

18.9

27.6

FALKLANDS

21.6

4.8

4.6

UK (Brize Norton)

9.3

-0.4

8.4

UK

Monday saw sunshine and thunderstorms, but the rest of the week was mainly cloudy with persistent drizzle, mist and fog. A cold northerly airflow set in on Friday, bringing snow for some.  

Falklands

The week started partly cloudy with outbreaks of rain, but hazy sunshine developed by the weekend. 

Ascension

Excepting some intermittent heavy showers on Friday and Saturday, it was a hot and sunny week. Temperatures reached their highest so far this summer.

St. Helena

A rather cloudy and wet week with showers every day. Heavier showers were seen on Friday and Saturday.

The period from about now until May is known locally as the heavy shower season, and we saw some of these heavy showers last week. February is the 3^rd wettest month on the island, behind April and March. It has an average monthly rainfall of 16.0 mm over an average of 4.8 rain days, so the rain normally falls in the form of heavy showers on only a few days. The wettest February on record is 1995, when 94.8 mm was recorded over the month. 61.8 mm fell overnight on the 11/12^th, with further heavy rain on the 12^th and frequent showers on the 15^th.

As for thunderstorms, they are rare, but most likely to occur in March and April. Since 1984 at the Airhead there have only been 7 storms, with the last reported one on 6/7^th April 2000. There is a tendency for thunderstorms to occur overnight, and they are very rare in the afternoon. Although rare, they can have major effects on the island. On 29^th March 1963 Georgetown recorded 96.5 mm of rain, causing extensive road damage, landslides and a flooded cemetery. On the 4^th March 1984, the airfield was closed due to erosion and boulders strewn along the runway. In this rainfall episode, the CSR site recorded 147 mm in just 4 hours – almost a years’ worth of rain in one day. Heavy rain also resulted in flooding and landslides in March in both 2008 and 2009.