February was a bizarre month. At a time when temperatures should be starting to rise, on average, day by day, the opposite happened. Record warmth near the start made it feel positively spring-like. However, a bitterly cold period towards the end, reminded us, the plants, the birds and the bees, that even in these days of global warming, February is definitely still part of winter.

During the first 13 days, temperatures worked out to be around 4C (7F) above the February mean. For the next eight, they were a shade under, but for the final week or so they plunged to 4C (7F) below the norm. Despite this ending, over the month as a whole, it was mild.

Although quite dry towards the Pennines, over eastern parts February was damper than usual, even though atmospheric pressure was well above typical values for much of the month. The 13th to the 18th was notably fickle.

Here at Carlton, near Stokesley, 19 mm (0.75in) of rain fell during this interval, representing over one-third of the month's total. Yet, there was an anticyclone almost on top of us with our barometers reading above 1028 millibars (30.35ins) and telling us that it should be dry.

Unfortunately, the high had taken up residence over western districts and the air around it was laden with moisture. More was picked up over the North Sea, and the gentle, northerly drift to its east, carried it inland. The Friday to the Sunday were miserable days, with gloomy skies and persistent rain and drizzle, chiefly in the east of the region. Here, these were the wettest days of the month, at least until the last few days. A couple of weak fronts ambling south-east round the high over the next few days didn't help either.

A vigorous south-westerly airstream returned at the end of January after a brief, northerly blast. For the first five days of February it originated about as far south in the North Atlantic as is possible. Consequently, it became very warm, with the mercury soaring to what we'd expect in May. Records for the month were broken in several places - amazing, considering it was still the first week. Gravesend measured 18C (64F) and Church Fenton, in the far south of North Yorkshire, wasn't that far behind. Here at Carlton, we fell just short of the highest in my 20 years of data. This was 15.8C (60.5F) on the 14th in 1998.

The mild spell also encouraged the spring bulbs, which were already well advanced for the time of year. Most snowdrops and crocuses were in flower and even a few daffodils, the earliest I've ever known them to be out and at least a month "ahead of schedule".

This air-stream, with its long track across the ocean, was also extremely moist. This dropped out of the sky principally where it was forced up over hills. In their lee it became relatively dry. This gave rise to an astonishing contrast in rainfall amounts from west to east. Capel Curig in Snowdonia had a staggering 400mm (16ins) in the first five days of February, double what they usually receive in the month. It represents well over half a year's rainfall here at Carlton and was one hundred times what I collected, 4mm (0.15ins), in the same period.

We had quite a shock the next week-end when temperatures plummeted, though to levels only slightly below normal, as the wind veered sharply to the north-west. It strengthened too, emphasising the sudden chill and brought a crop of snow showers. This came about as the main depression governing our weather transferred east to southern Scandinavia, coupled with a rapid rise in pressure to the south-west of the British Isles. The latter led to the formation of a new high pressure area over the near continent with the breeze backing via south-west to south-east. This gave a quiet, mostly dry, cloudy spell and it turned mild again.

Towards the end of the week, this anticyclone was replaced by the one already mentioned, which turned out to be such a damp squib. Another came in from the Atlantic around in the middle of the following week and settled down over the country. This one was better news and it became dry and much brighter. With the clearer skies, frosts returned, the first for nearly a fortnight, and there were a few fog patches. As the high receded north-westwards over the week-end of the 21st/22nd, northerly winds were drawn down its eastern flank with a lot of snow showers, particularly east of the A19, with five centimetres (two inches) lying inland. Another frontal system worked its way south-east during the following Tuesday introducing warmer conditions - but for only 12 hours or so.

Behind this, the northerlies resumed with a vengeance and remained until the end of the month. For a couple of days, with the breeze west of north, blowing down the spine of Britain, it was mostly dry and sunny. There was a penetrating frost for much of this interlude, but this didn't show up as a deposit of hoar or rime as the air was very dry.

During the Thursday, the wind veered far enough into the north to bring frequent snow showers, some heavy, in once more from the North Sea, with thunder also a feature on the Friday. By the time they died out on Sunday the 29th, when the breeze at last backed towards the west, some large accumulations had built up. Depths of 15 centimetres (6ins) were typical, but as much as 30 centimetres (one foot) on north-facing hills towards the coast.

The winter was quite wet, mainly due to January, and especially in the east, where for some spots it was the wettest since 1994-95. It was also mild.

February temperatures and rainfall at Carlton-in-Cleveland: Mean maximum 7.5C, 45.5F, (+0.4C, +0.7F); mean minimum 2.1C, 36F, (+0.8C, +1.5F); highest maximum 15.0C, 59F, 3rd; lowest minimum -6.9C, 19.5F, 29th; total rainfall 56mm, 2.2ins, (+5mm, +0.2ins); wettest day 8mm, 0.3ins, 27th; no of rain days, with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 20 (+6.5)

Figures in brackets show the difference from the 20-year mean, 1984-2003.