Northwest England experienced an early taste of spring in February with sunnier and milder than usual conditions, culminating in record-breaking temperatures towards the end of the month.

After a chilly start to the month, temperatures climbed as northerly winds gave way to much milder southerly flows, occasionally originating all the way from the Canary Islands.

Northwest England’s lowest temperatures occurred on the morning of Friday 1^st with -9.7C at Shap, Cumbria. By contrast, on Tuesday 26^th, the region experienced its warmest February day on record with a high of 20.4C at Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The UK also experienced its warmest February day on record on the same day with 21.2C at Kew Gardens, Greater London (smashing the previous record of 19.7C, set in 1998 on 13^th February).

Overall, daytime temperatures across northwest England averaged 3C above the normal for February. The nights were not quite as exceptionally mild, averaging around 1.5C above normal. It was a much sunnier than normal February with the region enjoying a total around 110 hours of sunshine, about 160% of the climatological average.

It was also a slightly drier than normal February with only about 90% of the average rain falling. However, much of this rain fell early in the month. Indeed, Cumbria experienced very wet conditions in the week to Sunday 10^th with 133mm of rain falling at Shap. The latter part of the month was relatively dry. The dry and sunny conditions combined with low humidity helped to dry out vegetation and leaf litter on the ground, probably fuelling wildfires on Saddleworth Moor and elsewhere in the UK.

Looking ahead

Looking ahead to March we will see the weather reverting back to more typical conditions for this time of year. Through the first couple of weeks of March, temperatures are expected to be much nearer to the seasonal average with winds often from the west. The westerly winds are also likely to bring showery conditions at times and these showers could occasionally be wintry over hills. However, there are some indications for a return to somewhat drier and more settled conditions later in the month as high pressure builds and westerly winds ease. So we may be able to enjoy some more springtime sunshine, this time in spring.