Winter 2025 unexpectedly came in it average being within the 1C margin for the 1991-2020 average. It still followed the trend which means Winter will not be cold following a very mild December with temperatures above 6C. It was also a wet one so we shouldn't have any water shortages this year despite Yorkshire water warning of shortages in December and early January. The 100mm mark was exceeded in both January and February. The winter featured four storms none of which had any real impact in the region although Goretti did produce some measurable snowfall this been the only fall that left a cover during the entire winter. The other named storms for winter were Storm Bram and Chandra.
December came in with temperatures well above average the joint 7th warmest with 6.3C. As soon as that happened I wrote winter off and although a phantom easterly was forecast by the models for most January and part of February it never materialised. A case history V the computers and history won again although at some point we will get a cold winter after a very mild December.
Temperatures by day were very mild on the 1st and again from the 6th to 11th and generally rather mild from the 12th to the 19th. Only a cooler spell from the 24th onwards prevented December from being much milder. The mildest almost sprig like days were on the 7th when 12.9C was reached and then 9th when 13.8C was reached. The 1st also saw 12.4C being reached. Nights were close on the actually overall monthly average at 4.2C +2.2C above the night time average. Despite this the month was fairly uniform in nature with only 7.4C difference between the coldest day 6.4C and the warmest day 13.8C on the 9th. The mild weather continued through to the end of the month this time due to mild nights so the month never really saw any major cold weather at all. The coldest day was on the 26th when the high was 4.9C and the low being -0.7C. The overall coldest day was saved for the 31st when a high of 5C had a low of -0.9C the coldest night of the month. An average daily temperature of 2.1C for the day. The warmest night was on the 10th when 9C was the low. The month did see three air frosts. December was the 7th warmest on record.
The month of December was a wet one just failing to make the 100mm mark. However if failed to make the top twenty wettest on record. Despite being a wet month rainfall only reached double figures once with 12.5mm on the 21st. The next highest was 9.9mm on the 8th. There were 7 dry days through December and later in winter dry days became a premium. The last ten days only produced 2.2mm of rain so a relatively dry end to the month. Due to the mildness of the month there wasn't any Snowfall recorded not even a bit of sleet.
The month was a quiet month again in regards to the wind with a peak gust of 41mph on the 9th. The only day to reach a moderate breeze was the 1st when 13mph was the average force 4. The 41mph was courtesy of storm Bram which had zero impact in the region.
January 2026 saw temperatures slightly below average and a very wet month. The month featured three storms Storm Ingrid, Storm Chandra and storm Goretti none of which had much of an impact locally. The month didn't make the top twenty coldest or warmest months but made the top twenty wettest coming in at 11th. The month features a failed easterly which never made the reliable time frame yet was modelled consistently for the last two weeks in January. It was a good demonstration of models over estimating the block to the East and strength of the jet stream due to a cold air mass over America meeting a very warm air mass and firing up the jet. It also continued the modern quirk of mild December greater than 6C meaning a cold winter will not follow..
The month overall had very little temperatures variation just 8 degrees from the mildest day to the coldest day. Night time temperatures overall offset the below average Day time temperatures this mainly being due to the amount of cloud around. The only real cold spell was from the 1st to the 10th. This period saw the coldest day a mere 1.6C and a more respectable night time low of -3.9C on the 5th followed by -3.1C on the 6th. Two further air frosts came on the 10th and 11th. That was the last of the air frosts. Night time temperatures from the 16th to the 25th were above average with the mildest night being the 20th with 6.5C. There wasn't any mild spells in January so now double figures. It was rather mild from the 11th to the 13th when 9.6C on the 11th was the mildest day of the month followed by 9.3C the next day. It was rather mild again on the 19th and 21st just. 9.1C being reached on the 20th. Rather mild nights kept the overall average generally above normal from the 22nd to the end of the month although there were one or two coldish days.
January was a wet month with above average rainfall despite only 6.6mm being recorded in the first seven days with Yorkshire Water making noises about having to save water again for the coming Winter. The dry start came to an abrupt end on the 8th when 22.1mm fell as rain and wet snow. This was courtesy of Storm Goretti. It rained every day until the 28th but only reached double figures twice with 16.8mm on the 21st and 14mm on the 26th. Further rain between the 29th and the 31st pushed the month to the 11th wettest on record. There were only five dry days so in one sense you could have expected an even wetter month. The storms has very little impact which is normally the case.
January continued the decline in windy weather and was a very quiet month with winds failing to reach 40mph mark through out the month. Considering it was a fairly active Atlantic during the first 2/3 of the month this was a bit of a surprise and goes against the increase of stormy weather we keep hearing..
There was some rare Snow in January with Snow falling on the 1st, 4th and the 22nd to the 10th and on the 30th which was a bit of surprise as Snow reached quite low levels despite modelling suggesting the highest ground only. The 8th brought 7.7cm by the morning of the 9th and that was it for the month. The depth on the 30th was 1cm before steadily melting. Sleet did fall for the 6th so another Winter month goes by with a lack of Snow.
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February 2026 saw temperatures basically average for the 1991-2020 and well above the 1961 -1990 average. Remember being in a degree counts as average. It was a very wet month. It as also a fairly cloudy month with sunshine at times a rare event. The month didn't feature any named storms as these were directed into Europe instead. The month did make the top ten warmest months coming at 12th. But it made the top ten wettest coming in at 8th. The month once again continued the failed easterly theme for most of the first half of the month. Although cold air did hit the region it was only a brief glancing swipe. It also confirmed continued the modern quirk of mild December which have a greater than 6C average leading to mild winter.
The month didn't have much in way of temperature variation for the 1st twenty days it was only after the 20th when milder air took over bringing another early spring. The first twenty days overall were close to the 1991-2020 average and above the 1961-1990 average. This made the comment by Carol Kirkwood that it being cold a rather strange one. Consider for most of the month we were on the north side of the jet stream it should have been a very cold month. However since the winds had a mainly ESE component any cold air was directed to Scotland. The one mild day during the first twenty days was on the 11th when 10.6C was reached. There were a few days below average the coldest day being the 3rd with 1.8C being the high. The next coldest the 1th with 2.7C being the high. Three air frosts occurred on the 14th, 15th and the 18th. The values being -1.3C on the 14th and the 18th and -1.1C on the 15th. There were ten days in all that were on the cold to rather cold side during the first twenty days. However the 8 days above average were enough to offset these. The warmest day and night came after the 20th when 13.6C was reached on the 24th and 9.8C being the low on the 26th. The month finished on a mild to very mild note bringing the average temperature to just above normal and basically average as it's within the 1C. This is using the 1991-2020 average.
February was a wet month with above average rainfall passing the 100mm mark soon after the 20th. It rained every day up to the 17th continuing a wet spell from January meaning that it rained on 41 consecutive days and all of these days had measurable rain and didn't include any trace conditions. This period brought a total of 213mm. Normally you would except a few records broken but this didn't occur although the winter and February were in the top ten wettest months and Winters. The wettest day was on the 5th when 27.4mm of rain and Wet Snow fell. 11.6mm more fell on the 6th followed by 7mm the next day. Nearly a 3rd of the monthly total. Rainfall reached double figures again on the 10th with 10.7mm falling. Rainfall amounts generally were less after the 20th with the odd dry day thrown in but the month still passed 100mm mark. This being only the 4th time January and February had both gone past the 100mm mark. Considering there weren't any names storms in the month it quite impressive that the 100mm mark was reached. That said it did rain on all but two days.
February didn't buck the trend of less stormy weather as there weren't any windy days recorded during the month with the highest gust being 35mph on the 26th. The decline in windy days is a national trend when comparing 1961-1990 to 1991-2020 although this may just be temporary feature only time will tell. However this goes against the narrative of increased stormy weather from media releases.
There was some rare Snow in February with Snow falling on the 3rd, 5th, 13th, 14th and the 18th. Most was transpositional quickly turning to rain or briefly turning to Snow before dying away as on the 14th. There wasn't any recordable snow cover during the February though.
We managed 3 air frosts in February a poor total but this demonstrates the effect of the cloudy days. If there had been less cloud we may well have been talking about an below average month.
| This Winter's Averages Including the Highs and Lows | ||
|---|---|---|
| Average Temp 4.3C | This Winter's Average 5.2C | Difference from average 0.9C |
| Average Max Temp 7.2C | This Winter's Max Average 7.3C | Difference from average 0.1C |
| Average Min Temp 2.8C | This Winter's Min Average 3.2C | Difference From Average 0.4C |
| High Max 13.8C on the 9th of Dec | Low Max 1.6C on the 5th of Jan | Highest Daily Range 11.5C on the 11th of Jan |
| High Min 9.8C on the 26th of Feb | Low Min -3.9C on the 5th of Jan | Lowest Daily Range 0.2C on the 3rd of Feb |
| Number of Air Frosts 12 | Days of Thunder 0 | Days of Snow 11 |
| Days of Rain > 0 70 Days | Days of Rain with Trace 6 Days | Days with Gusts ≥ 50 mph 0 days |
| Average Rainfall 227.1mm | This Winter's Average 345.5mm | Percentage of Average Rainfall 152.1% |