Keswick (Lake District) weather in February

February in three words from a regular: "cold, grey, damp." On rain, the local formulation is hard to improve on — "if it isn't raining, it's probably just rained, or it's about to rain" — with the useful corollary that "rain is very likely, snow very unlikely." Figures quoted are a mean around 4°C, maxima near 5°C and minima near 2°C. The variable that actually decides how it feels is wind. Posters single out wind chill in "coastal and estuary areas like Liverpool," noting that on a blustery day with rain and a strong northerly even 13°C "seems irrelevant," and one describes the worst of it coming straight off the river. Our record is unusually emphatic on that point: February's average wind is 32.6 kph, turning 8.7°C days into a 4°C feels-like.

Keswick's forum is upfront that June can go either way — hot and sunny some years, cold and wet others — and that the Lake District is one of England's wettest regions regardless, with conditions on the fells changing within minutes. Regulars still rate it a good month: long daylight into nearly 10pm leaves plenty of time for a fell walk after dinner.