Cold

The lowest temperatures since 1961 in the UK

*Someone at the Met OfficeUKMO The Meteorological Office is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy forgot the minus sign.

Here are some of the plotted charts from eleven of the lowest temperatures that have occurred in the UKUK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. since 1961. I’ll add to the charts when I get more time, but as I only have SYNOPSYNOP SYNOP (surface synoptic observations) is a numerical code (called FM-12 by WMO) used for reporting weather observations made by manned and automated weather stations. SYNOP reports are typically mad hourly and consist of groups of numbers (and slashes where data is not available) describing general weather information, such as the temperature, barometric pressure and visibility at a weather station. data back to 1973 I can’t include the ones from the early 1960’s. So to start the show, here are the joint coldest temperatures of -27.2°C from 1982 & 1995.

It’s a shame Braemar has never been a SYNOP station, but the -16°C and 18 cm of snow reported at Dyce, will give you an idea of the condition further up Deeside.
I’ve caught the 18-06 minimum temperature at Altnaharra of -27.0°C. The UKMOUKMO The Meteorological Office is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had started to include temperatures to one decimal place by then, so the minimum must have occurred between 06-09, or even later. Similar synoptic conditions to those in 1982, but a much tighter SE’ly gradient, who knows it could have been even colder if the wind hadn’t go up.🤔
Cold, Temperature

The lowest temperatures since 1961 in the UK Read More »

The warm and cold spell of spring 2024

Spring 2024 saw a very warm spell from approximately the 8th to the 20th of May with anomalies across northern Scotland of +7°C, followed quickly by a cold spell, from the 4th to 12th of June with anomalies of -5°C. The Met OfficeUKMO The Meteorological Office is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy thought little of both spells, despite May ending up the warmest since records began in 1883. They argued that the cold spell wasn’t that unusual, or as cold as the temperatures in many recent years, despite the fact that snow fell on ground above 800 M in Scotland for at least five consecutive days. They didn’t seem to want to factor in that the cold spell had occurred at a time when global temperatures were 1.54°C above the pre-industrial age or that North Atlantic SSTSST Sea Surface Temperatures are at record levels. What a strange attitude to take. 😮

Cold, Spring, Warm

The warm and cold spell of spring 2024 Read More »

The cold spell of 5-11th June 2024 in Central England

Of all months, June in Central England is the slowest to catch on to the fact that global temperatures have increased by close to, if not more than 1.5°C since the start of pre-industrial times. This is certainly true for the seven day period between the 5th and 11th of June in 2024, which was 17th coldest in the daily series that started in 1772. The mean temperature of 11.34°C was 2.31°C below the 1961-1990 LTALTA Long Term Average. This is usually defined as a 30 year period by the WMO. which made it the coldest period since 2001.

CET, Cold, June

The cold spell of 5-11th June 2024 in Central England Read More »

European temperature Surge

The recent surge in temperatures across Europe in January can be seen in a sharp rise in estimated mean temperatures across the northern extratropics in the daily anomaly chart for the last year. The surge seems to have started shortly before Christmas in my DIYDIY Do It Yourself global series, and is still going on in around that zonal region, with anomalies now around 1.2°C higher than the 1991-2020 LTALTA Long Term Average. This is usually defined as a 30 year period by the WMO.. The effects of the North American cold wave and the cold snap across Europe are also visible as a blue down spike at the very end of November.

Cold, Global Temperatures, Warm

European temperature Surge Read More »

Cold wave across North America

23 Dec 2022
12 UTCUTC Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean solar time (such as UT1) at 0° longitude (at the IERS Reference Meridian as the currently used prime meridian) and is not adjusted for daylight saving time. It is effectively a successor to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). analysis

Dear Diary
A lot of sensational reporting going on in the media about the low that’s been undergoing cyclogenesis in the eastern parts of the Great Lakes today, and the cold wave that’s introducing Arctic air across much of North America in its wake, as the low tracks NENE North East’ward into Canada. BBCBBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom, based at Broadcasting House in London. It is the world's oldest national broadcaster, and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, employing over 22,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 19,000 are in public-sector broadcasting. News seems content to report temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit, perhaps because it makes the negative numbers even larger. Here are a few of the phrases that I’ve picked up from the BBC reports.

  • Weather Bomb
  • Bomb cyclone
  • Flash freezing
  • Brutal cold

The cold front has certainly dropped temperatures as it’s raced through. In my experience wind chills of -40°C or lower are very severe, but far from unprecedented across North America, and ones like this usually occur in most winters, but what the hell do I know. Another thing I don’t know is if the NWSNWS National weather service definition, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is responsible for meteorological observations. has named the culprit low, perhaps it has descended into the realms of lunacy as most of its European counterpart Met Services have.

23 Dec 2022
12 UTC wind chill

Analysis, BBC, Cold, N America, Wind chill

Cold wave across North America Read More »

Joint sixth longest cold spell since 1772

Dear Diary
Believe it, or believe it not diary, the recent cold spell that has just come to an end was the joint sixth longest cold spell since 1772 in Central England. The Gannt chart lists all cold spells that lasted at least 10 days, with daily mean anomalies of -4.9°C or lower. The table on the left lists all cold spells ranked using the dense ranking method. That’s based on anomalies calculated against the 1878-2021 LTALTA Long Term Average. This is usually defined as a 30 year period by the WMO.. It’s no wonder the Daily Mail was getting hot under the collar about the Met OfficeUKMO The Meteorological Office is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s response to it and I think it’s longevity caught many people out. Cold spells of that length are not that common, it might not have been as severe as some in the past, but it lasted ten days from the 8th to the 17th of December.

CET, Cold

Joint sixth longest cold spell since 1772 Read More »

SST Comparison

Dear Diary
It’s a slow job cooling the oceans with a two-week cold spell. SSTSST Sea Surface Temperatures are still between 1°C and 3°C above the LTALTA Long Term Average. This is usually defined as a 30 year period by the WMO. in waters that surround IONAIONA Islands Of North Atlantic. Yes I know there's an island called Iona, but this is so I don't have to use the term 'British Isles' when referring to the whole of Ireland and the UK., and the cold snap has only done a little to lower them from where they were at the start of November.

Cold, SST

SST Comparison Read More »

Coldest December since 2010 and fourth coldest since 1884

Dear Diary
We are more or less halfway through December 2022 now, and the latest mean temperatures for the UKUK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (-3.49°C estimated) indicate that currently 2022 is the coldest since 2010 (the coldest December on record), and the fourth coldest since 1884 behind 2010, 1981 and 1890. Of course there is the matter of the second half of the month to come, and these low values are bound to take a big knock early next week as very mild air is set to make a temporary return.

Cold, December

Coldest December since 2010 and fourth coldest since 1884 Read More »

A distinctly nippy IONA

Sunday, 11 December 2022 – 12 UTCUTC Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean solar time (such as UT1) at 0° longitude (at the IERS Reference Meridian as the currently used prime meridian) and is not adjusted for daylight saving time. It is effectively a successor to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). temperature anomalies

Dear Diary
Another very cold day across all parts of IONAIONA Islands Of North Atlantic. Yes I know there's an island called Iona, but this is so I don't have to use the term 'British Isles' when referring to the whole of Ireland and the UK. this Sunday, exceptionally so across parts of the south with anomalies as low as -10°C this lunchtime, as this cold spell continues. Many areas will see an ice day today with temperatures remaining sub-zero this afternoon. Finally, the northern Highlands of Scotland, have lost that persistent and tenacious east northeast wind of the last week that has been funneling a feed of milder winds into the Moray Firth. No doubt it’s just taking a breather and will be back later in the week.

Anomalies, Cold, Frost, Scotland

A distinctly nippy IONA Read More »

December 2010 v 2022

Dear Diary
I thought I’d take a look back at how the start of this December (2022) compares with that of 2010, the coldest December in the UKUK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. in the gridded data series that extends back to 1884. I’m afraid it’s no contest so far, at least in the first eleven days of the month. It’s funny living in Devon as we did in 2010, it didn’t feel at all like it was going to end up the coldest December on record. We certainly had a couple of falls of snow, but the snow wasn’t as powdery, or drift as it did in the intense cold wave of January 1987. I’m beginning to sound like that episode of Vicar of Dibley now so I’ll stop.

Cold, December, Snow

December 2010 v 2022 Read More »

Scroll to Top