GWENT has been basking in unseasonably warm weather this week – with parts of Wales seeing record-breaking temperatures.

Scenes of people frolicking in the sunshine and exchanging warm clothes for T-shirts are unusually common scenes for February.

But temperatures have been as high as 17C in Newport, due to warm air from Africa. 

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South Wales Argus:

Daffodils in Gwent

This week’s sunshine could not have been a starker contrast to this time last year though.

South Wales Argus:

Warm weather in Newport

The region, like the rest of the country, was brought to its knees by the Beast from the East which unleashed the country’s coldest weather in five years.

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Beast from the East hit Gwent last year

The freezing weather front brought thick blankets of snow, causing businesses and schools to shut down.

Combined with Storm Emma, which hit later, it cost Gwent local authorities around £1.2 million in total.

The heavy snowfall even led to drivers being trapped for hours on the M4.

But this week saw the first time a temperature of more than 20C had been recorded in winter.

Monday was the warmest winter day on record, only for this to be broken elsewhere yesterday.

Here temperatures hit 16C in Torfaen, 15C in Blaenau Gwent, and 18C in both Monmouthshire and Caerphilly.

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Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesman, said: “This week we have seen record-breaking temperatures with at least two sites in Wales exceeding 20 degrees.

“This has been created by weather conditions bringing a warm southerly flow to the UK, and plenty of home-grown sunshine.

“These exceptional conditions are now coming to an end as we will be in a transition to more unsettled weather bringing wind and rain.”

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He added: “The temperatures across Wales will remain above average, but they will be nearer six or seven degrees above average rather than the 12-14 degrees above average that we have been experiencing.”

But enjoy it while it lasts - because forecasters are predicting rain and thunderstorms could hit some parts of the UK tomorrow.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said parts of southern and western England could be facing thunder on Thursday.

"Tomorrow will be pretty sunny again for most places," he said on Tuesday evening.

"There might be a little bit of mist and fog around to start with but that should largely clear.

"It won't be quite as exceptionally warm so I don't think we will break the record we have reached today."

Mr Burkill said temperatures will cool slightly on Thursday, but remain in the mid-teens, with a chance of heavy showers.

"Those (showers will be) most widespread in the south and west and some of those could be quite heavy, maybe even the odd rumble of thunder mixed in," he said.

Friday and Saturday are expected to be largely dry but cloudy with the chance of a few scattered showers.

Mr Burkill added: "For many Saturday is not looking too bad but a weather system is likely to come in, affecting particularly northern parts of the UK."

Experts have said climate change has played a role in the unusually warm February temperatures.

Met Office climate spokesman Grahame Madge said: "Climate change has made what would have already been an extremely warm event even warmer and is probably responsible for tipping it over the 20C threshold."

Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the temperatures were "consistent with the clear climate change signal that we are seeing in the UK".

Last February, when Britain was hit by the Beast from the East, the warmest temperature recorded was 14.2C (57.6F) in Cardiff's Bute Park.
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The Beast from the East hits Abergavenny

The severe snowfall caused by both the Beast from the East and Storm Emma - which occurred round about the same time - cost Gwent authorities around £1.2 million.

The amount spent by each local authority included Caerphilly County Borough Council spending £428,000, Monmouthshire County Council spending £290,000, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council spending £240,000 and Torfaen County Borough Council spending £139,000. While a Newport City Council spokeswoman could not provide the actual sum spent by the local authority, she did reveal that £120,412 had been spent on Storm Emma alone.