FEBRUARY began with a brisk westerly airstream, bringing a mix of sunshine and showers. Wednesday the 6th saw a brief blast of northerlies, but we were fortunate that we got away with no more than a few snow flurries, and that they didn’t feature again.

However, by the 10th, the breeze backed easterly and winds from this quarter dominated for the rest of the month. South-westerlies tried to invade Britain a couple of times but were only successful for a short interval from Wednesday the 13th.

Initially, in the evening, this caused a blizzard, except by the coast. It was the third occasion within a month that many of us had endured such conditions. It gave drifts up to 0.5m (20ins) deep, but Thursday and the next four days were a complete change.

They were pleasantly warm, dry and quite sunny, and lying snow melted rapidly. Easterlies then returned and, from Tuesday the 19th, they brought relentless grey skies, with some wintry showers around the following weekend.

Although days were cool, at least the blanket of cloud kept us mild at night. When it did clear on the final Wednesday, we enjoyed one of the warmest days of the month as the temperature approached 10C (50F). But, that evening, it plummeted as low as -5C (23F), the hardest frost this February.

Overall, the month was a good 1C (2F) more nippy than normal, but the chilliest February since just 2010, when it was a further 1C (2F) cooler. That was the second coldest in the past 30 years, but it was as much as 3C (5.5F) balmier than the most bitter in 1986.

So, we added to the run of cool months since March, but, on the plus side, it was by far the driest in this series, with generally half the usual rainfall. At Carlton, near Stokesley, the 14th to the 21st was the longest arid period since September. In 2012, there were only six dry spells lasting over a week – and the two longest were in March.

The winter ended with average rainfall but temperatures were almost 1C (2F) below the norm. This was about 0.5C (1F) milder than the one in 2010-11, but the winter before was 1C colder still, the most arctic for three decades. We shouldn’t forget though that the previous 14 were relatively warm.

February’s figures at Carlton-in-Cleveland:

Mean maximum: 5.4C, 41.5F (- 1.7C, 3F)

Mean minimum: 0.2C, 32.5F (- 1.1C, 2F)

Highest maximum: 9.7C, 49.5F, 3rd

Lowest minimum: -4.4C, 24F, 28th Total rainfall: 24mm, 0.95ins (- 26.5mm, 1.05ins)

Wettest day: 8mm, 0.3ins, 13th

Number of Rain Days: with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 11 (-3) (

Figures in brackets show the difference from the 29-year mean, 1984-2012)