There's been much excitement (admittedly most coming from the BBC) about today being a warm day.

Several statements have been made about it possibly being 'the warmest December day on record'.

I'll say more in the Look Ahead video later, but it's suffice to say such statements are not helpful.

Warm temperatures in December are not unusual. In fact, in each of the last five December temperatures have risen above 15C somewhere in the UK. In four out of those five years temperatures peaked above 16C.

Just to keep things in context, here's the record temperatures recorded during the previous five Decembers ...

16th December 2015    17.2C Teignmouth, Achnagart and Plockton (both in Highland)

22nd December 2014   16.0C Prestatyn (Denbighshire)

10th december 2013     16.0C Cassley Sutherland)

22nd December 2012   15.0C Westonzoyland (Somerset) on the 22nd and Achfary (Sutherland)

26th December 2011     16.1C Banff (Aberdeenshire)

Oh, and what is a record? Well, the term 'record' is rather a misnomer. That's because the UK Met Office arbitrarily created a climate series which they decided began on 1912, despite many records in the UK extending beyond 1912.

For example, Edgbaston in Birmingham has records back to 1881 and some stations in the UK go beyond this.

So, listen to the hype but let's keep it in context.