Shutterstock / K303©The Met Office has just confirmed that England and Wales have experienced their warmest February on record.
It’s been a mild winter with fewer frosty nights than usual.
Data released this afternoon has confirmed that the average temperature in England for February 2024 was 7.5°C, which tops the previous record of 7.0°C set in 1990. While Wales’ average mean temperature was 6.9°C for the month, only just exceeding 1998’s record of 6.8°C.
According to Met Office, February 2024 was the second warmest on record for the UK as a whole, averaging 6.3°C, but not surpassing February 1998’s figure of 6.8°C.
Met Office Senior Scientist Mike Kendon said: “February has perhaps been the quietest month of the winter, without any further named storms, whereas Gerrit in December and Henk and Isha in January all caused significant weather impacts.
“Despite a cold spell in in the north in the first half of the month, the main theme of February is how persistently mild and wet it has been, particularly in the south and this is largely due to the influence of Atlantic low-pressure systems bringing a predominant mild, south-westerly flow. This mild, wet theme is also true of winter overall.”
These statistics support long-term projections of warmer, wetter winters in the UK due to climate change.
How wet has it been?
Before the month was even over, Met Office data showed that parts of south Wales, the Midlands and Lincolnshire had already seen more than two-and-a-half times their average February rainfall.
Overall, England experienced its fourth wettest February; however, February 2020 was much wetter. Provisional Met Office figures also show that the UK is generally on track for its eighth wettest winter on record.
The Met Office’s Mike Kendon said: “The UK’s observations clearly show winters are getting warmer, and they are also getting wetter since as the atmosphere heats up, it has an increased capacity to hold moisture.
“The top-ten warmest winters on record for the UK include 2024, 2022, 2020, 2016 and 2014 and the top-ten wettest 2024, 2020, 2016 and 2014 – so very mild winters also show a tendency to be very wet.”
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Hannah McLaren I've worked at DC Thomson for six years! I began as an intern at My Weekly and The Scots Magazine, which was extended by a few months to help out at The People's Friend. I then covered maternity as Celebrity Editor for My Weekly, before I became Multimedia Journalist at The Scots Magazine. Currently I'm writing digital content across each title.
