IT MAY have been freezing this week, but 2014 looks set to be named as one of the warmest years on record in East Yorkshire.
And 2015 could be even hotter, according to the Met Office.
People across the region basked in hot, sunny weather throughout last year, from temperatures of 17C in March to the hottest Halloween ever recorded at 21C.
But with the warm temperatures came extreme weather conditions – from flash floods in the East Riding to a tornado hitting Hull.
"This has been a warmer than average year, and every month but August was warmer than usual," said Met Office spokesman Laura Young.
"At the start of this year, the average temperature until February was five degrees, which was 1.5 degrees above average, and the average rainfall was 39 per cent above normal.
"And the spring saw something similar, with the temperature 1.4 degrees above average and the rainfall up 11 per cent."
Temperatures soared to 28C over several days in July, which led to people flocking to the beaches of Bridlington, Hornsea and Withernsea.
Stephen Foreman, one of the owners of Skipsea-based ice cream parlour Mr Moos, said: "Business has been very good over the summer. We've had a sunny summer. A lot of people visited and had ice cream.
"If it's sunnier, it's usually better, but people enjoy ice cream whatever the weather.
"People need cheering up and they need ice cream, but it has been one of the better summers."
The Met Office is now predicting that this year will be even hotter.
Colin Morice, a climate monitoring scientist at the Met Office, said last year was likely to be a record year.
"This year will add to the set of near-record temperatures we have seen over the past decade," he said.
The Met Office has estimated this year's global mean temperature will be 14.64C – 0.7 degrees higher than the 2014 estimate.
"It is very likely that 2015 will be one of the warmest years in a series dating back to 1880," a Met Office spokesman said.
"The potential increase in global mean temperature in 2015 is expected to be based on the ongoing warmth of the tropical Pacific Ocean, weak El Nino conditions, the warmth of the Arctic and the ongoing increase in greenhouse gas concentrations."
Rachael Gillbanks, a spokes man for the National Farmers Union, said the warm conditions last year were gratefully received by farmers.
"We have had some shocking years, so it is good to be able to string together two reasonable years," she said.
"The very fine weather from spring meant that we had a harvest that was quite a bit earlier than usual.
"We had really good harvesting conditions, which made a change from farmers having to constantly dodge showers.
"It was a very good growing season, not just for crops but also livestock because of the masses and masses of grass this year.
"It has generally been a good year."
Although it was warm, there was stormy weather in the height of summer.
A tornado tore through east Hull in August, leading to a tree smashing through a car window.
Julie Stephenson, 57, had reached to put her bag down in a taxi during the storm when the tree came crashing down.
"My head was bleeding and glass from the smashed window cut my arm," Mrs Stephenson, of Hopewell Road, said.
"It is frightening what could have happened."
Just a month earlier, heavy rain brought flash flooding to Cottingham and west Hull.
Cottingham High School assistant headteacher Jonathan Rogers said: "We had all the staff, from the caretaker to the headteacher, pull together to try to sweep away the water.
"I joked about the toilet bubbling just as it started to rain but ten minutes later the whole ground floor was flooded."
