Autumn has well and truly arrived. As temperatures drop and leaves turn brown, the seemingly endless summer heatwave feels long ago, and thoughts are now turning to how cold it will actually get this winter.
Last winter was not one of the coldest seen, but weather experts at the Met Office said it was one of the wettest. In their assessment of winter 2025, going into January and February 2026, they said: "Winter has seen above average temperatures and rainfall for the UK overall, with notable regional variation. The weather has been unsettled, with four named storms and a strong jet stream and blocking high over Scandinavia causing extended spells of wet weather for some areas and an unusual rainfall pattern."
Last Winter's Weather
December was very unsettled in the first three weeks. January started with cold and wintry weather, and Storm Goretti brought widespread snow to Wales, the South Pennines and parts of the West Midlands, as well as damaging winds to Cornwall. The month then turned wet and unsettled with two more named storms, Ingrid and Chandra, bringing heavy rain and strong winds.
Cornwall and County Down saw their wettest Januarys on record. February saw a continuation of wet conditions, with unsettled weather, persistent rain, and temperatures around average.
"Overall, this was a reasonably wet winter with the UK recording 113% of average winter rainfall. England had its eighth wettest winter on record in a series from 1836, Northern Ireland had its 9th wettest and Southern England its fourth wettest. In contrast Scotland had a dry winter with only 86% of average rainfall, with the northeast of Scotland seeing very high totals while the west of Scotland was unusually dry."
However, last year was also England's warmest winter since records began in 1884.
Signs of a Harsh Winter
But what will this winter bring? Will it be another mild season with rain, or will it turn cold? The answer could be hiding in homes, according to the Farmers' Almanac. The historic periodical, founded in 1818, is used to predict weather months in advance, best days for planting or fishing, folklore, recipes, and home remedies.
According to the Farmers' Almanac, there are signs in nature that the winter will be an especially harsh one, and one of them is seeing increased numbers of spiders in your home or spinning webs which are larger than normal.
However, experts say the eight-legged creatures are actually in houses all year round and simply become more visible when the weather turns cooler. Geoff Oxford of the British Arachnological Society said in 2012: "It is unlikely that the large specimens we see in our houses in autumn have come in from outside, as is commonly assumed. They will have spent their entire lives in our company without us being aware of it."
Rob Crawford, from the Seattle Burk Museum, had another explanation for the influx of spiders into homes at this time of year. He said: "House spiders colonize new houses by egg sacs carried on furniture, building materials and so forth. They usually spend their entire life cycle in, on or under their native building.
"If a large number appear at a specific season, it is usually late summer (August and September)—not a notably cold time of year!—rather than fall, and their appearance coincides with the mating season of the given species. What you are seeing is sexually mature males wandering in search of mates."
Other Signs According to the Farmers' Almanac
Other signs it's going to be a cold winter according to the Farmers' Almanac include thicker than normal onion skins or corn husks, woodpeckers sharing a tree, early arrival of the Snowy Owl, early arrival of crickets in the hearth, early departure of geese and ducks, early migration of the Monarch butterfly, tick hair on the nape of a cow's neck, heavy and regular fog during August, mice chewing to get into your home, pigs gathering sticks, ants marching in a line, early seclusion of bees into a hive, more acorns than usual, squirrels gathering nuts early, and halos around the sun or the moon.
