New Year’s Day was the mildest on record.

The island’s Met Office recorded a maximum temperature of 13.3°C at Ronaldsway, beating the previous record of 12.8°C set on New Year’s Day 2015.

The weather forecasters have been crunching the numbers for 2021.

They say eight months were warmer than normal and the mean temperature for 2021 measured 10.6°C, compared with the long term mean of 10.4°C.

The highest temperature of the year, 26.7°C was recorded onJuly 22 and the lowest, minus 2.7°C on January 9.

There were 13 days with air frosts compared to 11 in an average year, mostly due to the cold January last year.

Despite the dry summer rainfall totalled 899.7mm, slightly above the annual mean of 884.7mm.

January, May and October were significantly wetter than normal. The wettest day was October 29 with 39.1mm at Ronaldsway.

Apart from March, the first seven months were sunnier than average, with the April sunshine record broken, but duller weather prevailed in the second half of the year.

The final total was 1,754.5 hours of bright sunshine compared to the long term mean of 1,629 hours.

The sunniest day was May 30, with 15.5 hours of unbroken sunshine.

Only February, March and October had stronger winds than normal.

The mean speed for the year measured 13mph, the sixth lowest on record. There were only eight days with gales compared to 17 in a normal year. The highest gust of 65mph was recorded on December 7.

There were 21 days with fog, also 21 days with hail, five with snow and two days with thunderstorms.

Last year began with a cold wet January, 71% more rain fell than normal and there were ground frosts on half the nights in the month.

February was mixed, with wet and dry spells and cold and mild periods.

After a wet winter, March brought a drier start to spring which continued into April when only 13mm of rain fell.

The sunshine record was smashed in April too, with 264.9 hours. However, clear skies meant cold nights.

Most of May was wet, with 67% more rain than normal, and it was also cooler than average.

However, the late bank holiday weekend brought a taste of summer.

June was drier than normal with the warmest days starting and ending the month.

Summer arrived in July when we equalled the record mean temperature of 16.9°C, set in 2006.

There were 16 days above 20°C at the airport and 21 completely dry days in the month.

Rainfall totalled only 30.4mm, most of which fell in the damaging thunderstorms on the 27th and 28th.

The dry summer continued into August with only 46mm of rain, two thirds of normal but skies were often cloudy meaning less sunshine and temperatures near average.

With a mean temperature of 15.3°C September was the second warmest on record, beaten only in 2006 with a temperature of 15.4°C.

The end of the month saw a change to much more unsettled conditions which continued throughout October, with 186mm of rain, almost double the long term mean. However temperatures remained mild.

Much of November was mild but a cold spell late in the month brought significant wind chill and the first air frost of the season. November also saw the first named storm, Arwen which brought down trees overnight 26th/27th.

December was also mild, especially the late in the month. Storm Barra, on the seventh, brought down more trees and waves at high tide caused damage on Douglas and Ramsey promenades.

December was cloudy and mild, with above average rainfall despite nine completely dry days in the middle of the month.

The mean temperature for the month measured 7.5°C, 0.4°C above average.

The month ended exceptionally mild with daytime maximum temperatures of 13°C and night-time temperatures not dropping below 11°C. There was only one air frost of minus 0.1°C on the 5th.

Rainfall totalled 116.8mm, compared to the long-term mean of 95mm. The wettest day was the 30th with 16.3mm at the airport.

The cloudy skies that kept us mild meant a lack of sunshine, only 36.3 hours which was 26% below normal.

The mean wind speed measured 16.3mph compared to the December mean of 17.5mph.

The second named storm of the season ’Barra’, on the 7th, gave the maximum gust of 65mph at Ronaldsway, fallen trees and minor structural damage across the island as well as significant wave damage on Douglas and Ramsey promenades.

There were two days with fog, two days when hail fell but no thunderstorms during the month.