Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

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UK last month

February 2020

February opened with four days of changeable westerlies, then high pressure briefly moved across the country between the 5th and 7th bringing settled weather with sunshine and frosty nights to many central and southern counties. The rest of the month was windy and exceptionally wet, with rain frequently moving in from the west and south-west and giving large totals. Storm Ciara on the 9th and Storm Dennis on the 15th brought exceptional rainfall totals to much of the country, and it was also very wet on the 28th. In between the rain belts, there were brighter spells and blustery showers, and the showers were wintry at times, especially in the north, but any lying snow on low ground was short-lived.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 5.1 °C, which is 1.4 °C above the 1981-2010 long-term average. Both mean maximum and minimum temperatures were less than 0.5 °C above average over much of Scotland and Northern Ireland, but were 2 to 3 °C above average in southern England and parts of the Midlands, East Anglia and south Wales. It was the wettest February in a series from 1862, with 237% of average, and some locations had over 400% of the long-term average, but rainfall was near normal in parts of north-east Scotland. Sunshine was 104% of average, and it was a dull month in most western areas but sunnier than normal in the east, especially around Aberdeenshire, and sunshine was also slightly above average in Northern Ireland.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 16.0 °C was recorded at East Malling (Kent) on the 16th. A minimum temperature of -10.2 °C was recorded at Braemar (Aberdeenshire) on the 13th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT on the 20th, 180.4 mm of rain fell at Honister Pass (Cumbria). A wind gust of 84 knots (97 mph) was recorded at Needles (Isle of Wight) on the 9th. A snow depth of 23 cm was recorded at Copley (Durham) on the 24th.

Regional values for February 2020