February 2024 was warmest since records began in England and Wales
England and Wales experienced their respective warmest Februarys on record, provisional Met Office statistics have revealed.
The average temperature in England last month was 7.5°C, exceeding the previous record of 7.0°C from February 1990, while Wales’ average mean temperature of 6.9°C in February 2024 was slightly warmer than its previous record of 6.8°C set in 1998.
It was also the second warmest February across the UK, with the monthly average of 6.3°C behind only the 6.8°C figure from February 1998.
Four of the past six years – 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024 – now rank in the UK’s top 10 warmest Februarys on record since the series began in 1884.
The forecaster said southern England also had its wettest February since records began in 1836, with many parts of the region recording more than twice their average monthly rainfall.
In East Anglia, it was both the warmest and wettest February on record, as the mean temperature reached 8.2°C alongside 106.4mm of rainfall across the month.
England as a whole recorded its fourth wettest February on record, although it lagged behind the record-breaking February 2020, during which the UK recorded 237 per cent of its average rainfall.
The UK experienced overall above average temperatures last month, with particularly warm weather across southern regions. In many southern counties in England, the mean temperature was more than 3°C above the February long-term average.
More than 30 counties recorded their highest February mean temperature.
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.”
This winter ranks in the both the UK’s top 10 warmest and top 10 wettest.
The UK recorded a mean average temperature of 5.29°C across December, January and February, making it provisionally the fifth warmest winter on record.
It was also provisionally the UK’s eighth wettest winter on record, with 445.8mm of rainfall across those three months, marking a 29 per cent increase on the long-term average.
Central and eastern England and Scotland were among the wettest areas, receiving more than 150 per cent the average rainfall amount.
The wettest areas have been across central and eastern England and Scotland, widely receiving more than one and a half the average rainfall amount.
It was also a duller winter than average, with the UK’s 145.6 hours of sunshine just 90 per cent of the long-term average.
Mr Kendon said: “The UK’s observations clearly show winters are getting warmer, and they are also getting wetter; 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.”
There was another monthly UK record broken earlier this year, when the highest daily maximum temperature of 19.9°C was recorded on 28 January at Achfary in Scotland.
It meant that, since 2011, the UK has recorded its highest daily maximum temperature for six out of 12 months of the year: January (2024), February (2019), July (2022), October (2011), November (2015) and December (2019).
