A MONTH of two halves is the February summary by Okehampton weather watcher David Naylor.
The month was notable for the cold and frequent snowfalls until February 10, caused by persistent low pressure.
The first snow started on February 2, when the maximum temperature only reached -1°C.
Outbreaks of snow continued to fall and settle until an exceptional fall on February 5 as the snow became heavy in the evening and lay 25 cm deep on the morning of February 6, with reports of up to 55cm on the moor.
The full snow cover lasted until February 9.
During the spell of thick snow cover, the hours of darkness were almost like twilight due to the bright moonlight reflecting off the snow cover.
A few snow patches were still visible south of Cosdon Hill at the end of the month.
From February 10, the windflow became mainly between north and west, and temperatures rose to a little above average.
The Okement rivers became raging torrents, a combination of 33.0mm of rain on February 9 and snow melt, but thereafter, only 2.7mm of rain fell.
The 10.1°C maximum on Saturday was the first time since January 27 that the temperature exceeded 10°C.
Winter 2008/09 has been cold, 0.5°C below average, and also dry, with 74% of average rainfall.
The coldest spells were December 1 to 15, December 26 to January 10 and the February 1 to 10.