Britain had seventh hottest and second sunniest year ever in 2018

Britain enjoyed its seventh hottest and second sunniest year on record in 2018, new figures show.

The Met Office released its full round-up of weather statistics for the last 12 months on Friday, and the figures may come as a surprise considering much of the country was blanketed in snow and ice in the early part of the year.

February and March saw freezing average temperatures of 2.4C (36.3F) and 3.8C (38.8F) because of the arrival of the Beast from the East, but 2018 still ended up making the top ten hottest years ever.

The UK average across the whole year was 9.49C (49F) thanks to an extraordinarily hot summer and milder than usual temperatures during the autumn.

July was the hottest month, clocking in at an average of 17.3C (63.1F), and the amount of sunshine we enjoyed came within hours of topping what we were treated to in 2003.

That year recorded 1,587 hours of sunshine, compared to 1,581 in 2018.

Dr Mark McCarthy, head of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, said the heat and sunshine statistics were consistent with a general trend of our climate warming up.

He added: "Although there were memorable extremes of hot and cold weather, with the summer heatwave contrasting with the Beast from the East, overall the mean temperature was well above the long-term average."

Despite the summer heatwave also contributing to swathes of southern England experiencing their lowest rainfall for more than a century, 2018 was also a very wet year for parts of the UK.

The country received 1063.6mm of rainfall, which is 90% of the annual average.

January was the wettest month with 134mm of rain and July was the driest with just 35mm.

It has been a frosty start to 2019 so far, with temperatures as low as -6C (21.2F) recorded in Glasgow on Wednesday and -10.5C (13.1F) in Braemar on Thursday.

Britain is braced for a chilly weekend too, with the mercury set to plummet below freezing across the country on Friday night and some freezing fog developing by Saturday morning.