ABC circulation plunging, bad news for the Indy and Guardian, and misery breaking out at the Mail. Roll on, spring

February is usually a lousy month for newspaper circulation managers: too much snow and ice, too many readers diving abroad for a sun or ski break. But February 2013 tells a particularly bleak tale. Total national daily circulation down 8.32% in a year to 8,240,400. The Star and the Sun taking cold baths, 13.19% and 11.63% down respectively. The Independent reporting a walloping 28.56% fall; the Guardian with a 10.37% loss to way below 200,000 – even the Daily Mail finding it heavy going at last and losing 5.97% over 12 months.

There’s one obvious winner, the bounding i – up 12.7%. (Though it’s not so amazing at 20p a throw, especially when you’re shifting over bulk giveaways from the mothership Indy as well.) But the Mirror (down 5.91%), the Telegraph (down 6.52%) and the Times (down a mere 0.94%, though stuffing itself with bulks again) have relative reasons for consolation.

Lessons? An old, old one: cover price rises hurt in an economic crunch. And a new one for the Times: you can be newspaper of the year (at last week’s British Press Awards) and put a smile on that circulation manager’s face if, bizarrely, you ditch the editor who brought you those non-temporary, non-acting good things.