2012/13 winter colder than average

The recent trend of chilly winters has continued, with figures showing that this season has been the fourth in the last five years to be colder than average.

As the 2012/13 winter draws to a close, Met Office statistics for the UK revealed the season was 0.4C cooler than mean temperatures.

Over the last five years, only last winter saw the mercury rise above the 3.3C (38F) average - taken from 30 years of statistics from 1981.

The Met Office news blog said: "For the winter as a whole, the UK mean temperature of 3.3C makes it milder than 2008/09 (3.2C/37.8F), 2009/10 (1.6C/34.9F) and 2010/11 (2.4C/36.3F), but colder than 2011/12 (4.6C/40.3F)."

According to the figures, this winter 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."

However, with spring starting on Friday, March 1, the conditions are set to return to normal in the coming week.

Mark Seltzer, a forecaster with the Met Office, 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."