Last week’s warm spell not only saw national maxima records tumble but, locally, saw the February diurnal temperature range record shattered too.

Four days of near cloudless skies produced classic conditions whereby the maximum amount of solar heating by day was followed by clear nights allowing all that heat to escape with air frosts forming.

The spell saw five new entries in the ‘top 10’ of February diurnal temperatures since 1959, with both the 25th and 26th surpassing the record set in 1976 by at least 0.3C.

The diurnal ranges were not enough to make the annual list, however