Winter 2010/2011: Cold and dry - as forecast!
After a record breaking December, a mild February has meant that winter 2010/2011 across the UK as a whole has ended up only 15th coldest since UK figures started in 1910.
Provisional UK data for winter 2010/2011 shows a mean of 2.39C, compared to the 1971-2000 average of 3.7C.
How does that compare with recent winters?
Last winter was much colder, with a mean temperature of 1.64C, the coldest since 1978/79.
2010/2011 was though colder than 1995/1996, which had a mean of 2.53C, but was not as cold as the winter of 1985/86 which had a mean temperature of 2.29C.
Based on the Central England Temperature data set (CET), the winter mean temperature was 3.13C, compared to the 1961-1990 average of 4.06C.
This has made it only the 112th coldest winter since CET records began in 1659.
It was also a dry winter.
Across the UK, 259mm of rainfall was recorded, 78% of the average. For the North of England, 233mm was recorded, 89% of average.
This all ties in very well with winter projections made back in early October, which you can see from my article: Winter 2010/2011 - cold and dry?
Later today the first estimate for global temperatures for February will be released which I will write about tomorrow.
Hello, I’m Paul Hudson, weather presenter and climate correspondent for BBC Look North in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. I've been interested in the weather and climate for as long as I can remember, and worked as a forecaster with the Met Office for more than ten years locally and at the international unit before joining the BBC in October 2007. Here I divide my time between forecasting and reporting on stories about climate change and its implications for people's everyday lives. 
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