A cold start to the year before turning unsettled. Winter 2025-26 was very wet, with some areas seeing the wettest winters on record. Overall it was the eighth wettest (since records began in 1836) for England, but Cornwall, Leicestershire, and the West Midlands saw the wettest on record. It was generally dull, but particularly for northeast England and east Scotland (I can vouch personally for that). In contrast it was sunnier than usual in parts of south Cornwall, south Devon, and Hampshire - although those areas were also very wet.

.January. A dramatic month of contrasts. The start of the month saw a cold, snowy spell with Arctic air, with much snow, particularly across the north and east, areas exposed to the northerly winds. The temperature fell to -12.5ºC at Marham (Norfolk) on the night of the 5-6th. There was a rare 'red' warning for wind for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly on Thursday 8th with Storm Goretti (with Scilly recording a gust of 99 mph), which also brings snow further north. It was -14.7 a Tomintoul (Banffshire) and -12.3C ar Braemar on the night of the 8-9th, the coldest night of the month. It then became unsettled for the rest of the month, with some heavy periods of rain. There was often the 'promise' of cold easterlies, but they never quite, materialised. There was particularly heavy rainfall across eastern Scotland between the 21st and 24th, with SE winds, in my part of Scotland. Storm Chandra on the 26th to 27th gave some locations in Devon and Dorset their wettest day ever. The River Otter burst its banks. The cold first week was balanced by a milder remainder of the month, and overall temperatures were just a little beneath average. Overall it was wetter than average, with 117% of the mean rainfall for the UK, but southern England, eastern Scotland, and Northern Ireland were very wet. Northern Ireland had its second wettest January on record, with 170% (1956 mm). Angus and Aberdeenshire were extremely wet, but the west of Scotland very dry. Cornwall had its wettest January on reord with 267.6 mm. Although sunshine was average overall, it was dull in Scotland and northern England. The highest temperature of the month was 13.6ºC at Bude (Cornwall) on the 11th and Charlwood (Surrey) on the 18th. In the observing day ending on the 11th there was 131.6 mm of rain at Alldearg House on Skye. It was the most cyclonic SE direction month for the UK on record.

February. Generally wet, dull, and mild. For England it was the fourth warmest on record, and for the UK as a whole the ninth; the minima were particularly high, and there was little frost around. it was the fourth dullest on record in the UK. The first half of the month saw a blocking high over Scandinavia which brought SE winds, making the east coast particularly dull and wet. It was more generally unsettled in the second half. One consequence was that NW Scotland was unusually dry. The highest temperature of the month was 18.7ºC at Kew Gardens (London) on the 25th. It was particularly wet in Angus, Dorset, and Worcestershire (which saw its wettest Februaru on record). For the month the UK had 123% of the monthly average rainfall, and England 170%. Northern Ireland was also vert wet, with a new highest daily rainfall record set for Northern Ireland (140 mm at Trassey Slievenaman. Overall sunshine in the UK averaged 41.6 hours (58%, making it the fourth dullest on record); it was the dullest for Wales (35.1 hours). The lowest temperature of the month was -10.0 C at Tomintoul (Banffshire) on the 18th. In Angus it was very dull and very wet; a month I would like to forget.

March. Mild and changeable, with a more settled, warm spell midmonth. The highest temperature of the month (and year so far) was 20.9 ºC at Gogerddan (Dyfed) on the 18th. It turned rather cooler for the end of the month, before warming up again with 20.9 matched once more, at Pershore (Worcs.) on the 31st. Overall it was the tenth warmest March for the UK as a whole on record. Although it was very slightly wetter than average (86.6 mm, 102% UK) there were regional differences, being particularly wet in western and northern Scotland and northern Englands, but drier than average in the south and eastern Scotland - mercifully reversing the trend of the winter. It was a sunny month, especially in southeast Scotland. The lowest temperature of the month was -6.1 at Loch Glascarnoch on the 6th. 93.2 mm of rain fell in the observing day ending on the 25th at Honister Pass in Cumbria.

April. Overall warm, dry, and sunny: the seventh warmest for the UK as a whole, and the fourth sunniest. It was dry everywhere apart from Scotland, and in the south and east extremely dry: while England recorded 38% of the long-term average, Scotland recorded 117%. There was an unsettled start to the month, with Storm Dave bringing wet and windy weather, especially to the north of England and south of Scotland, at the start of the month (4-5th).  It then turns very warm at the end of the week as warm air is brought north; 24.8ºC at Mona on Anglesey on the 7th is the warmest day of the year so far (and indeed since mid September last year), and then on the 8th it reached 26.6C at Kew Gardens - the highest temperature in the first half of April since 1946 (and probably as hot if not hotter; see April 1946). The second half of the month is more settled. England recorded its third sunniest April on record. The lowest temperature of the month was -7.0 at Tomintoul (Banffshire) on the 23rd.