Met office statistics reveal 2006-07 winter to be fourth warmest since records began

With the winter months behind us, the Met Office has released provisional figures showing the mean temperature during December, January and February was a balmy 5.47°C – 1.8°C above average.

The warmest winter since the digitised series covering the whole of the UK began in 1914, was 1989-90, with an average temperature of 5.82°C.

For full historical context, the Central England Temperature (CET) series – based on temperatures taken within an approximate triangle bounded by London, Bristol and Manchester – is used. Its records, which stretch back to 1659, show the average temp this winter to have been 6.4°C (as it excludes the more northerly parts of the UK), making it the fourth warmest on record, with the warmest ever being 1868-69 at an average of 6.77°C.

Rainfall figures show most areas of the UK to have been very wet and the winter months have also been sunnier than average.