Our warmest winter for over century

THE winter of 2016 was the warmest since records began in 1910 and the second wettest, the Met Office said yesterday.

The period from December 2015 to February 2016 was 2C higher than average across the southern half of the UK.

There was also less air frost and ground frost compared to the long-term average.

Overall, however, last year was only the 13th warmest year on record although the sun shone more than average. In contrast, globally 2016 was the warmest year ever recorded.

Dr Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre, said: ‘The trend towards warmer temperatures is clear but the large natural variations in our climate mean that increases are not always even year-on-year.’