The Uk's Coldest City

[Osbourne One-Nil]

I've bothered.

If that's not a definition of a megalopolis, I don't know what is.

[Mondy]

Doesn't look very cold to me..

[Osbourne One-Nil]

That's because it's such a heat island.

[Yeti]

I don't live in New York either, but I know there's a big funny statue there on the way out of the port. Or Paris. Harrogate is so far away from here that in order to get there I'd need one of those beam-me-up thingies that they have on Star Trek. Presumably the combustion engine hasn't yet arrived in Harrogate?

Anyone who is bothered can always go and make their own mind up by checking either on a map, or google earth. I think it's time to put the spade down: Knaresborogate will never be, and even if it was, it still wouldn't be a city, and even if it were, it wouldn't be colder than the Scottish cities either on an average basis (they're all colder) or a mean minimum basis (Inverness would certainly beat it).

I never suggested Harrogate was a city, please see earlier post. Nor did I say Durham was colder than places in Central and Eastern Scotland PP - it's just that I happened to look at some stats and in January Durham had an average temperature that was lower than Aberdeen and equal to Edinburgh - as cool as any Scottish city and cooler than most.

[Stratos Ferric]

I've bothered.

If that's not a definition of a megalopolis, I don't know what is.

Admit it, you've just copied a random shot of green fields from down EITS's way. I can see the easterly playing across the top of the grass.

Doesn't look very cold to me..

It was taken in summer, and Yeti lives in the mountains to the west anyway. Everybody knows that yetis live in the mountains.

[Mondy]

- it's just that I happened to look at some stats and in January Durham had an average temperature that was lower than Aberdeen and equal to Edinburgh - as cool as any Scottish city and cooler than most.

Historically also?

[Yeti]

Historically also?

What do you mean - i.e. records or averages? According to the link that somebody here posted earlier, on average Durham comes out as cold or colder than Scottish cities. Annually speaking, however, Aberdeen is colder.

In that sense I would call Aberdeen the coldest city in the UK.

It was taken in summer, and Yeti lives in the mountains to the west anyway. Everybody knows that yetis live in the mountains.

Of course I do! Harrogate has got to be the coldest place in the UK, especially at the whopping altitude of the town centre at 120m...

...Nope, my money's on Aberdeen for the coldest annual average.

[dodge]

I think London is the coldest city.

Agreed, you never get a warm smile, or a friendly hello when you walk past people in London...

[Yeti]

Agreed, you never get a warm smile, or a friendly hello when you walk past people in London...

[❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️]

Is the answer Bournemouth?

[PersianPaladin]

I never suggested Harrogate was a city, please see earlier post. Nor did I say Durham was colder than places in Central and Eastern Scotland PP - it's just that I happened to look at some stats and in January Durham had an average temperature that was lower than Aberdeen and equal to Edinburgh - as cool as any Scottish city and cooler than most.

Sorry for any misunderstandings there.

[Yeti]

Sorry for any misunderstandings there.

Don't worry

[Stratos Ferric]

...And about the map - yes, Scotland looks "blue" compared to England, but when you look it's very telling. Look where the cities are in Scotland and they are all in mild pockets around the coast. Unlike Nern England, where many cities are well inland in blue areas. ...

I think if you look even more carefully, and know your geography, you'll see that both Leeds and York fall in pink/white areas - hats off to those UKMO boys and girls because the detail they plot even seems to pick up the UHI effect. The only city mentioned so far that might just fall into blue is Durham. The North Yorkshire connurbation-in-waiting, Knaresborogate, is firmly in the blue zone...definitely winner of the fantasy cold city competition, until Norrance suggests Braemallater are about to merge. My vote would still go to Inverness, accepting that the vagueries of "proxy" data are going to make the hair splitting required to make a robust call very hard to effect.

[Yeti]

I think if you look even more carefully, and know your geography, you'll see that both Leeds and York fall in pink/white areas - hats off to those UKMO boys and girls because the detail they plot even seems to pick up the UHI effect. The only city mentioned so far that might just fall into blue is Durham. The North Yorkshire connurbation-in-waiting, Knaresborogate, is firmly in the blue zone...definitely winner of the fantasy cold city competition, until Norrance suggests Braemallater are about to merge. My vote would still go to Inverness, accepting that the vagueries of "proxy" data are going to make the hair splitting required to make a robust call very hard to effect.

I was thinking of Durham when I said that. Never mentioned Harrogate as a candidate though! It's simply not a city, and with Knaresborough makes... two towns more-or-less joined together. A lot larger than Inverness, which demonstrates for me that this is also a town.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Preston is a city yet doesn't have a cathedral because the Queen deemed it so. Great Asby doesn't have a cathedral, and I've asked a queen, I Luv Snow, if it can be a city, and he says yes.

I think we have a winner.

[Yeti]

Preston is a city yet doesn't have a cathedral because the Queen deemed it so. Great Asby doesn't have a cathedral, and I've asked a queen, I Luv Snow, if it can be a city, and he says yes.

I think we have a winner.

Shall I ask him that then to see if it's really true?

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Yeah, if it helps determine the result.

[Yeti]

Yeah, if it helps determine the result.

rofl.

[Stratos Ferric]

I was thinking of Durham when I said that. Never mentioned Harrogate as a candidate though! It's simply not a city, and with Knaresborough makes... two towns more-or-less joined together. A lot larger than Inverness, which demonstrates for me that this is also a town.

That's like saying that because my hand held TV is smaller than my radio it's a radio not a TV. We've already established that there are specific criteria for being a city and population is not one of them - I think Lady Pakal did the spadework on that one. There are larger places than Harrogateborough that aren't cities.

St David's has a population of about 2,000 doesn't it? And that's a city. On that basis I'm pretty sure that Braemar has a perfectly bona fide claim. Appleby is a veritable connurbation by comparison.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Appleby is almost twice the size of Kirkby Stephen, and Kirkby Stephen is a town. That's how big Appleby is.

[Nick F]

Head against brick wall comes to mind

Good job St David's in Pembrokeshire will never make it into the coldest city books, as the arguments will be endless to whether it's a city or not, even though it has a huge cathedral.

[weather eater]

Has anyone mentioned Norwich sounds unlikely, but get an Easterly blowing a hooly in mid winter and I doubt you will find many places that feel colder

[Nick H]

Head against brick wall comes to mind

Good job St David's in Pembrokeshire will never make it into the coldest city books, as the arguments will be endless to whether it's a city or not, even though it has a huge cathedral.

As it's the most westerly cathedral in Great Britain, might it be the wettest city in the UK? I think it needs a new thread - UK's wettest city.

Well, it is a city, isn't it? It has been granted the Royal Charter.

Edited December 28, 2008 by Nick H

[Stratos Ferric]

Preston is a city yet doesn't have a cathedral because the Queen deemed it so. Great Asby doesn't have a cathedral, and I've asked a queen, I Luv Snow, if it can be a city, and he says yes.

I think we have a winner.

I may be wrong but I suspect that the thing that Lady Pakal dug up may be of recent vintage. Did Preston get the status in the last grant? Prior to that I really can't recall the last time in my lifetime that anywhere was granted city status. My suspicious mind, knowing how the labour party machine works, suspects a bit of political manoeuvring going on.

I understand Yeti's confusion, because in basic geography, and everyday use, "city" would be taken to mean a large urban area. Just taking ten minutes out to check on Wiki reveals unsurprising inconsistency the world over in defining the term precisely, although in the UK I think we have already established in this thread the official criteria. When Harrogateborough becomes Ripogateborough, then it might start to make a (still dubious) claim on coldest place in the UK.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Has anyone mentioned Norwich

As Alan Partridge once said, Norwich isn't a city; it's a way of life.