The sun might have come out towards the end of the month, but February 2026 will live long in the memory as one of the wettest on record.
By Tuesday 24 February we had only had one dry day recorded so far this year – that was on 3 February.
The Guernsey Met Office confirmed to Express that not a single ‘dry day’ was recorded in January.
By Tuesday, when the puddles finally started to dry out, Guernsey had already recorded 155.0mm of rain this month. That is way above the average for February which is just 61.8mm.
It’s thought this year’s February will be the wettest on record since 1978, with final figures expected to be confirmed next week.
The Met Office Duty Observer told us that the whole winter has been a lot wetter than average.
“Rainfall in December was about 10% lower than average but January was some 170% of average and with only a few days left of winter we stand at 419.9mm of rain against an average of 283.1mm, that’s 148.3% of average.”
He added that we have had “wetter winters this century” – in 2021, 2014, and 2001.
The rain clouds helped to full our entrance into 2026 too with an average of 39.4 hours of sunshine by 24 February, against an average for the month of 72.1hrs. He had said that the following few days “should help top up this total”.
While it’s been wetter and duller than average, it’s also been milder than average too.
“We’re 2.0°C above the mean temperature for the month at 8.9°C which would make it the second warmest February since 1990 (9.0°C) after 2024 with 9.4°C,” said the Duty Observer.
The heavy rainfall experienced during February added to Guernsey Water’s workload too – and the cesspit loads collected during the month.
Last week saw the utility complete record levels of cesspit collections following the latest bout of exceptionally heavy rainfall.
18 February alone saw 10 days’ worth of rain within 24-hours.
Guernsey Water said the sustained rainfall seen during most of February “placed significant pressure on the cesspit service, resulting in unprecedented demand”.
During the last week of the month alone, Guernsey Water’s cesspit teams completed 4,422 collections, an increase of 7% compared to the previous week.
This equates to 295 additional collections.
The service also recorded the highest number of emergency cesspit collections ever completed in a single day, with 65 emergency callouts.
Nearly 10% of all collections that day were emergencies, with 40 reported by 10:30.
These results were achieved without additional resources, added Guernsey Water, highlighting the hard work of the staff.
Business Change Manager Andrea Simpson also thanked customers for their patience.
“The volume of rainfall we experienced placed exceptional pressure on the cesspit service, and demand rose very quickly as a result. Our teams worked extremely hard in difficult conditions to maintain the service and prioritise emergency collections, while continuing to support scheduled work where possible. We’re grateful to customers for their patience during what was a very challenging period”