Four out of last five winters have been colder than average, says Met Office

Four out of the last five winters have been colder than average, the Met Office has revealed.

As the 2012/2013 winter draws to a close Met Office statistics for Britain show the season was 0.4C cooler than mean temperatures.

The Press Association via TheCourier.co.uk reports that over the last five years only last winter saw the mercury rise above the 3.3C average.

On its official blog, the Met Office said: 'For the winter as a whole, the UK mean temperature of 3.3 °C makes it milder than 2008/09 (3.2 °C), 2009/10 (1.6 °C) and 2010/11 (2.4 °C), but colder than 2011/12 (4.6 °C).'

The figures demonstrated how variable the weather in the UK can be.

The blog added: 'Starting with a mild and wet December and a mild start to January it turned cold from the middle of January with snow affecting many areas at times. The cold weather continued through February which was a dry month.'

But there's hope on the horizon as today marks the first day of the meteorological spring.

Mark Seltzer, a Met Office forecaster, said: 'The cold weather will continue for a few more days, but it will slowly get closer to average.

'It's looking like it will be getting more stable, particularly in the second half of next week.'

Meanwhile Leon Brown of The Weather Channel told AOL Travel: 'It looks like March 2013 will be similar in some respects to 2012 in that it will be dry, but a lot colder.'

'March 2012 was dominated by high pressure and was very dry with less than 50 per cent of normal precipitation, and March 2011 was also very dry with nearer 30 per cent of normal precipitation making it the driest since 1990.

'March 2012 was also warm and sunny with record temperatures in Scotland reaching 23.6C on 27th in Aboyne.

He added: 'In contrast March this year looks like it may be a little colder than average, but may be quite dry like the previous 2 years, especially in the north with high pressure dominating.'

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