Winter on the Isle of Man proved warmer than normal although there was much less sunshine and hardly any snow.

Surprisingly, despite two devastating storms, wind speeds were lower than the average.

The Isle of Man Met Office has provided an overview of winter which shows average temperatures of just over 7C which is half a degree up on the 30-year average.

December proved very mild – including Christmas – with the only real cold snap coming in early January.

Meteorologist Gary Salisbury said: ‘The mean 24-hour temperature across the winter came to 7.07°C, which is about half a degree up on the 30-year 1991-2020 long term average.

‘The season got off to a very mild start with December being the fourth warmest on record.

‘It wasn’t all mild though. After the very mild Christmas there was a colder spell in the new year that brought a decent amount of snow on the higher ground.

‘The lowest air temperature of the winter at Ronaldsway was -2.1°C on the morning of January 10.’

This winter was not as wet as some previous seasons, according to the figures.

‘After last winter and spring being so wet, this winter was slightly drier than the long-term average,’ Mr Salisbury said.

‘December was slightly drier and January about 25% wetter, mainly due to the snowfall on January 5 which was the wettest day of the winter.

‘February was dry so, overall, it is about 5% below the 1991-2020 average.’

There was little in the way of winter sunshine as the figures show.

Mr Salisbury added: ‘It will come as no surprise to many that sunshine hours were down by 14%. December in particular was very dull, with only 23.8 hours – the lowest since 1977.

‘Much of February was also dull but a couple of sunny days at the end of the month brought the total up a little. Overall there was 161.7 hours over the three months, compared to the 30-year average of 188.8 hours.’

Perhaps the most surprising statistic was the lower windspeed despite battening down the hatches for Storm Darragh in December and Storm Eowyn in January.

‘The mean wind speed over the winter came to 14.8 knots, which is just 0.3 knots below the 30 year average,’ Mr Salisbury said. ‘The strongest winds of the winter came in Storm Eowyn on January 24, with gusts of 81mph recorded at Ronaldsway, but the rest of January was less windy than average.

‘The other named storm of the winter was Darragh on December 7 with peak gusts of 75mph recorded. February was the windiest month overall, with a mean of 15.9 knots, due to persistent fresh to strong winds rather than severe gales.’

Meanwhile, there were just three days with sleet or snow observed at Ronaldsway, compared to the 1991-2020 average of seven.

‘This follows the trend for less occurrences of snowfall, as the average temperature rises,’ Mr Salisbury explained. ‘The most significant snowfall of the winter was on January 5, with blizzard conditions and drifting on higher ground, but disappointingly just rain at sea level.’