February was warmest on record in England and Wales, Met Office says

Last month was the warmest February on record in England and Wales and the wettest on record in southern England, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.

The UK as a whole had its second warmest February, with a mean temperature across the month of 6.3C, behind the record of 6.8C set in 1998.

The UK’s 10 warmest Februarys on record, in a data series going back to 1884, include 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2019.

The south of England had its wettest February on record, in a series going back to 1836, with many parts of the region recording well over twice their average rainfall for the month.

Mike Kendon, a senior scientist at the Met Office, 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 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, southwesterly flow. This mild, wet theme is also true of winter overall.”

Average rainfall across the UK last month was 139.8mm, ranking just outside the top 10 wettest Februarys on record. The UK’s wettest February on record was in 2020 with average rainfall of 213.7mm.

East Anglia had its warmest and wettest February on record last month with an average of 106.4mm of rainfall across the month, beating the previous record of 95.2mm set in 1916, and a mean temperature of 8.2C, surpassing the previous record of 7.6C set in 1990.

Met Office provisional figures also show the UK has had its fifth warmest and eighth wettest winter on record. The mean temperature across the country for December, January and February was 5.29C, ranking behind 1998 (5.35C), 2016 (5.47C), 2007 (5.54C) and the record-holder 1989 (5.79C).

Average rainfall for the UK across the three months was 445.8mm, some way behind the record-holding winter of 2013-14 (540.3mm). Records of temperature data begin in 1884 while rainfall data begins in 1836.

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 10 warmest winters on record for the UK include 2024, 2022, 2020, 2016 and 2014, and the top 10 wettest 2024, 2020, 2016 and 2014 – so very mild winters also show a tendency to be very wet.”