Frosty dry period for London

[igaquo1]

Well went outside this avo and noticed that the top of the soil was frozen! The first time I've experienced that before, being from Akl originally. there's been a high pressure close by the UK now for over two weeks, with no material rain for 3 weeks. Had -4.2C this morning, my coldest equal from my second winter here. Followed closely on from a -4C on 30 Dec, and daily highs of between 2-5C for the past week.

This winter definitely coolest in a number of years here in the UK. The first two weeks of December were coldest start to winter in 30 years, and on 31 Dec much of the country failed to reach 0C maximum.

Jeremy

[Vertigo]

just an update. all over europe, stations are recording the coldest winter since records began. the lowest temperature so far has been -27.5C in northern germany. brr!

eu_st.gif

as you can see, its snowing in spain!

[igaquo1]

Well it has got colder since I posted above. On 6 Jan got down to -5.8C here, with -12C near Oxford, and the sea has frozen over in a number of enclosed harbours, such as Bristol Docks and Padstow Harbour in Cornwall, and even on a sheltered beach at Sandbanks near Southampton, on the south coast.

And at 1pm today, the temperature is still -1.7C and as it's overcast unlikely to rise much more, so I will have my first frost day here after 5 winters in London (with 2 winters recording at this address).

But change is on the way for the British Isles at least, with an active frontal system sweeping over the country tomorrow blowing away the continental air with milder maritime air. By Monday suppose to be 10C. Let the thaw begin! (my NZ native garden is not particularly enjoying the almost continuous frost).

[igaquo1]

well today was provisionally the coldest day since 7 Feb 1991. Max -2.2C at Heathrow. So 7.6C is the Jan average maximum, so 9.9C below average today.

[Nev]

That's some amazing stats. Hard to believe that London is currently colder than Scott Base in Antarctica. Thanks for the updates Jeremy.

[Simon Culling]

These low(ish) temperatures occured in an anticyclonic spell that lasted approx 2 weeks, but at no time did we have air that was cold in depth....it was simply cold due to the outgoing radiation at night being greater than that coming in during the short days. At 50 degrees plus North, the sun is quite low at that time of the year, and doesn't have much warming power. The coldest night was 6/7th Jan and the lowest temperature recorded at a Met Office climate site was -12.3*C at Buntingford, approx 50km north of London. I'm not familiar with the exposure of this site, but at a well known cold spot (frost hollow type site) at Benson (Oxfordshire) and approx 70km WNW of London, the temperature fell to -11.8*C on the same night.

In recent winters, say the last 20 years, it has become unusual to see a temperature much lower than -10*C in lowland inhabited parts of England + Wales.

The Glens of Scotland are a different matter. In another cold spell later in the winter, Aviemore, the centre of the ski-ing industry, and at only 200m above sea level recorded a minimum of -18.4*C on the 9th Feb 2009 and only reached -5.7*C as a maximum on that day. Nearby Cromdale, fell to -19.4*C.

[Simon Culling]

The day Jeremy refers to (10th Jan 2009) was indeed a cold day over southern England with maximum temperatures in the London area to 1800GMT of -0.3*C at London Weather Centre (rooftop site), -1.4*C at RAF Northolt, -1.9*C at London Heathrow and -2.4*C at Kenley. Fog/mist and very low stratus had persisted all day, but milder air arrived from the south in the evening, so maximum temperatures to 2400GMT were higher ie +3.2*C at London Weather Centre, +0.6*C at RAF Northolt, +1.5*C at London Heathrow and +1.8*C at Kenley. Further to the north east (approx 140km) the maximum temperatures to 18 +24hrs were -1.6*C and -1.0*C respectively at RAF Marham in the county of Norfolk (East Anglia) as the warmer air took longer to reach this part of the UK.

The next day (11th) temperatures reached 9 or 10*C over England.

Depending on how you catagorize an 'ice day' this was or wasn't. Some use 09-09, others 24-24, so it can be very confusing.

Incidentally, the morning minimums on the 10th had been -2.7*C at London Weather Centre, -4.0*C at RAF Northolt, -4.8*C at London Heathrow and -10.0*C at Kenley.