It should start to feel a bit milder in late February, with a more noticeable warm-up through March and especially April in much of Western Europe, including the Netherlands and the UK.

Big picture: when it usually warms up

For much of Northwest Europe (Netherlands, UK, nearby regions):

  • Late January–early February: Often still chilly, with frequent grey, wet days and occasional wintry episodes.
  • Second half of February: Average temperatures begin to creep up, and brief milder spells become more common, even if it still feels changeable.
  • March: You usually get a few “first spring” days where you can go out with a light jacket or even no coat for a few hours in the sun.
  • April–May: This is when it generally feels properly warm more often, with many days well into comfortable spring temperatures and more outdoor life returning.

An example from a Netherlands-focused forum: people often say the weather “gets better around March/April” and is “generally good in April and May,” although it can still be fickle with the odd cold snap.

Why it feels so slow right now

  • Even in regions with relatively mild winters, late January is still climatologically winter, so grey, wet, or chilly days are normal rather than exceptional.
  • Climate change has made many recent winters “mild” on paper, but that can just mean more damp 3–8 °C days instead of crisp, sunny cold—so it doesn’t feel better.
  • Psychological effect: by late January most people are tired of short days, so any extra cold or grey spell feels longer than it is.

A long-range outlook for the UK, for instance, talks about changeable, windy conditions with temperatures near or slightly above seasonal averages, and hints of warmer interludes before things settle into more consistently warm conditions later in spring.

Rough timeline (month-by-month feel)

This is a general guide for Western Europe, not a precise forecast.

  1. Now – early February
    • Frequent fronts from the Atlantic with rain or showers.
    • Temperatures near seasonal norms, with mild spells in the south but cold incursions from the north and northeast at times.
  1. Mid–late February
    • Gradual increase in average temperatures.
    • Still very changeable; you can get a surprisingly mild day followed by a raw, windy one.
  1. March
    • First “no-coat needed at midday” days around 15–18 °C are fairly common in sheltered, sunny spots, at least on one or two days.
 * Still risk of late cold snaps, but the cold doesn’t usually hold for long.
  1. April–May
    • Often described as “generally good” months in places like the Netherlands, with many comfortably warm, brighter days, even if showers remain.

What you can expect in practical terms

If you’re in somewhere like the Netherlands, UK, or nearby:

  • Expect it to feel noticeably warmer on average from mid–late February onward, with “proper spring” vibes building through March.
  • The most reliably warm and pleasant stretch typically starts in April and improves further in May.
  • Between now and then, look out for short warm interludes—long-range outlooks often mention brief, warmer spells mixed into otherwise unsettled patterns.

Forum-style angle and “trending topic” feel

On forums (for example, Dutch weather threads), you often see comments like:

“Almost always in March there's at least one day where the weather is just good enough (18 degrees, sunshine, no wind) that you can go out without a coat.”

And right now, a common “trending” sentiment is that winters feel weirdly mild yet still unpleasant: damp, grey, and “scary warm” in terms of long-term climate, but not warm enough to feel like spring.

TL;DR: If you’re in Northwest Europe and asking “when will it warm up,” the honest answer is: you’ll start to notice a change from the second half of February, get real spring-like days during March, and see consistently warm, pleasant weather mostly from April and May onward.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.