Today is the hottest February day in history as 20C recorded in Wales
Today is officially the hottest February day in British history, with temperatures reaching 20C.
A temperature of 20.3C was recorded at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion, in Wales, making today the hottest in February on record.
The Met Office says it is the first time 20C has been recorded in winter.
The previous record for February was 19.7C and was recorded in Greenwich, London, in 1998.
Britain will continue to bask in warm temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, but the weather will return to normal later in the week.
Many places in the UK have been enjoying temperatures of 18C and 19C since the weekend.
It's reached 20.3 °C at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion making it the UK's warmest February day on record. It's also the first time we've recorded over 20 degrees in winter pic.twitter.com/naGaJbjjWS
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 25, 2019
Warm air being pulled in from the south say temperatures hover just below 20C in many parts of the country over the weekend.
The west-coast beauty spot of Gogerddan, in Cardiganshire, Wales, was the hottest place at the weekend with a record-breaking 19.1C, making it the warmest Welsh day in February since 1990 – but that was only until Monday’s breaking of the 20C barrier.
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Hampton Water Works, in the south west of London, was the hottest spot in England at 19C, and Londoners took advantage of the chance to head out into the sunshine on the South Bank of the Thames.
In Dorset, crowds headed to the beach to enjoy the warm weather which is expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday.
However, temperatures are expected to drop to highs of 11C or 12C by Thursday.
A spokesman for the Met Office said: “It’s been unusually mild in many areas of the country and this is the fourth day in a row we’ve hit 18C.
“Monday and Tuesday will be equally as warm, if not with a greater chance of 18C or 19C.”
After that, however, temperatures should be back to normal.
“Monday and Tuesday will be the last of the very mild days with temperatures coming back to average levels after that,” the spokesman added.
The average temperature for this time of year in London is about 9C, the Met Office said, while it is between 5C and 8C in other parts of Britain.
The temperature might have been affected by a phenomenon known as the Foehn Effect, a dry and warm down-slope wind that occurs to the lee of hills or mountains.
The previous Welsh record was 18.6C (65.48F) set in the south Wales village of Velindre 29 years ago.
