Last month was the fourth mildest December since 1948, the latest figures from the Met Office show.

The mean temperature at Ronaldsway measured 8.7°C, which is 2°C above normal.

The lowest air temperature fell to 2.6°C and there were no air frosts and only three mornings with ground frost.

A Met Office spokesman said: ’Unfortunately the cloud "blanket" that kept us warm at night also limited our daytime sunshine with only 31.4 hours recorded, 33% below normal.

’Half the days in the month saw no sunshine at all.’

Rainfall totalled 119mm, compared to the long term mean of 92mm.

The wettest days were the 5th and the 15th, with 27mm and 24mm respectively.

The mean wind speed measured 16.3mph, slightly below the December mean but the severe gale on December 15 brought the strongest gust of the year at Ronaldsway, 73mph.

This combined with very wet ground brought numerous trees down.

Motorists were urged by the police to avoid all non-essential journeys.

A fallen tree at Ballacraine brought down power lines.

There were no thunderstorms, sleet or snow during the month.

Fog was observed on two days and small hail on December 19.