January's weather in numbers

January 2014 has been mild and fairly sunny but significantly wetter than normal, with some parts of the UK experiencing record-breaking rainfall.

While Wales had the highest total rainfall, at 246.9mm, south-east and central southern England had the most unusual level of rain - the highest in the area since records began in 1910.

The South East and central southern part of the country is usually fairly dry with a long-term January average of 80.1mm (3.1in) rainfall.

But this year it has more than doubled to 175.2mm (6.9in) - beating the previous record of 158.2mm, set in 1988.

For the UK as a whole 164.6 mm of rain fell in the period up to 28 January, 35% above the long-term average. Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland all had more rain than usual.

On the back of December's stormy weather, this puts the country on course for a wetter winter than average, the Met Office said. Only northern Scotland was drier than usual in January.

The rain has come with mild temperatures, which are 1.2C higher than average with a UK mean of 4.9C. England was even slightly sunnier than a typical January, with an extra four hours over the month.

The main reason for the mild and wet weather so far was a predominance of west and south-west winds, bringing in mild air from the Atlantic, the Met Office said.