Last winter was the driest on record and almost four times drier than last year, the Meteorological Office said.

This, it said, led to an early spring early but also to parched fields and a poor crop yield.

Rain was scarce and sea and air temperatures were higher than usual.

The phenomenon hit most of Europe, impacting animal behaviour and plants’ flowering patterns.

Locally, days were much brighter than usual with February 19 enjoying a maximum of 10.2 hours of sunshine, just 0.4 hours less than the mean sunshine hours recorded for August last year.

Exceptionally bright days were also experienced on December 23 and January 26.

Although December was the wettest month last winter, the 45.8mm of precipitation registered was still significantly less than the 104.8mm norm.

With a mere 2.6mm of precipitation, February was the driest month last winter, as well as the driest February on record since 1923. Between them, January and March registered just over 51mm of precipitation and two hail occurrences.

Peaking at 23.6°C, last February’s temperature became the highest temperature for the month in 93 years.

In the United States, Alaska also experienced its warmest February in a stretch of more than 90 years. Locally, the highest temperature in winter was reached in March at 24.6°C, while it dropped to its lowest, at 5.9°C in January.