LAST UPDATE | 26 Feb 2019

Students from Trinity College enjoying the sunshine in Seapoint beach in Dublin. Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

THE UK HAS recorded its hottest February day for the second afternoon in succession, with Kew Gardens in London recording a temperature of 21.2 degrees Celsius. 

That record temperature has beaten the 20.6 degrees that was recorded in Traswsgoed in west Wales yesterday, the first time on record that temperatures topped 20 degrees in February. 

The UK’s Met Office has said that today’s temperature record also marks the hottest day of the year so far and the highest temperature ever recorded in winter. 

Unseasonably warm conditions prevailed across the UK and Ireland yesterday and today, as temperatures hit the mid to high teens in both countries almost a year on from Storm Emma.

While it was a warm day in Ireland, the mercury didn’t quite reach the same record-breaking heights on this side of the Irish Sea.

Met Éireann said the highest temperature recorded today was in Kerry where 17 degrees was reached. 

But even if the temperatures weren’t as high as the UK, the country still enjoyed “fine, pleasant and dry” weather, leading to people pictures of people out in the sunshine. 

The west of the country also experienced the warmest conditions yesterday, with Met Éireann revealing that the highest temperature was recorded at Mount Dillon in Co Roscommon, where it hit 17.3 degrees.

However, a higher February temperature was previously recorded at the Phoenix Park in Dublin, where it hit 18.1 degrees on 23 February 1891.

- With reporting by Stephen McDermott