FEBRUARY WEATHER RECORDS BROKEN

Hottest February a year after Beast from the East

Peterborough basked in record breaking temperatures this week - exactly a year after it shivered as The Beast from the East struck.

The city sparkled in the late winter sun, as the mercury soared - sadly for many just as the half term holidays came to an end.

But the warm sunny snap looks set to be over - for the time being at least - with a more seasonal spell of unsettled weather bringing in the start of spring.

Last year the city was covered in snow as temperatures plummeted to just 1.2C on February 27, dropping to below freezing the following day.

This year, however, temperatures of 17.5C have already been recorded in a recordbreaking February.

Trevor Robbins-Pratt, who set up the Peterborough Weather Watch website, said February had been the warmest since he had started recording temperatures.

He said: “It has been very mild across Peterborough from around the 13th , and exceptionally mild since the 21st of the month.

“The maximum temperature I have recorded at my site is 17.5°C, recorded on the 26th, making that the highest February temperature I have recorded in my data series, which started in 2006. My previous high in February was 17.3°C in 2012.

“After 26 days, my average maximum temperature is 11.3°C, which would indeed make it my highest average maximum for February, comfortably topping the 9.7°C in 2014.”

Trevor said the reason for the spring-like temperatures was the ‘infamous’ jet stream.

He said: “The infamous jet stream ‘decided to wander’ quite markedly South over the Atlantic, which bought us a mild air stream from the Azores, at the same time high pressure became established to the South and East of the UK, so over time, the already mild air stream across the UK from the south west has been ‘warmed’ via a process called Warm Air vection and the increasing amounts of sunshine across much of the UK, bought to us by the area of high pressure.”

But while temperatures are now set to fall - for the near future at least, they will remain above average for the time of year.

He said: “From Thursday, it looks set to become more unsettled and breezier, as the area of high pressure that was established to our South and East, loses its influence and allows fronts to cross the UK, bringing some rain in places. “Temperatures will be several degrees lower than the extremes of the past week, perhaps around the 11°C or 12°C mark, but that is still above the average for late February/ early March. “Into next week, the trend at the moment looks very unsettled with temperatures likely falling further as we become affected by low pressure to the North of the UK and our weather becomes influenced by more of a Polar Maritime air flow.”

For details, visit www.peterboroughweatherwatch. com/

‘It has been exceptionally mild in Peterborough since February 21’

Trevor Robbins Pratt

The sun was out in Central Park