Annual Mins For England

[damianslaw]

Does anyone have the stats for the annual minimum temp recorded in England since 1993. I have the stats from 1939 - 1993. Based on the stats I have last night beat the coldest temp recorded in England during 1991 which was a mere -16 in York despite those very cold uppers which hit the country in Feb.

1987 produced a bone chilling -23 degrees in Caldecott. 1986 saw a temp of -18.9 in Kent so not that far off that figure. 1985 saw -19.5 in Caldecott. The severe cold winter of 1978/79 only produced -15.1 at Moor House high up in the Pennines - very surprised at that figure given the deep snow cover and clear skies many places saw that winter.

I'm preety sure we achieved lower mins in 2010 thanks to the december freeze. Not sure about 1995 and 1996 and 1997 - I know we got down to around -18 degrees in Dec 95. Jan 97 saw some very cold mins early on. All the winters since 96-97 up to 09/10 I doubt achieved a figure lower than -18 degrees.

Last night has proven you don't necessarily need very cold uppers and long drawn easterlies and northerlies over deep snow cover to produce very low mins in this country (lower than -18 degrees). All you need is a long established cold pool sitting over the country in stagnant air - though a bit of snow cover helps...

[March Blizzard]

I've been wondering the same; when was the last time -20 was recorded in England? If it wasn't for the cloud there was probably a slim chance of it happening somewhere in the East/South early tomorrow morning.

[stewfox]

I've been wondering the same; when was the last time -20 was recorded in England? If it wasn't for the cloud there was probably a slim chance of it happening somewhere in the East/South early tomorrow morning.

Its already -10c in a lot of places I'm sure we would have, the clouds will of course stop that happening.

[Paranoid]

It got to -20c in December 2010 i think, or at least some places were very close, i can certainly remember it being -19c or -20c at Topcliffe.

[March Blizzard]

I think we were just 0.4 degrees away from -20 in Dec 2010...Chesham i think. Pershore and Topcliffe also came very close with temps of -19 or lower but I dont think we ever quite hit -20. Could it be as far back as Jan 82 that England reached -20 or lower? Feb 86? Jan 87? Dec 95?

That's why I'm frustrated that the cloud ruined it for tonight, there was a fair chance England could have recorded it's lowest temperature for maybe 30 years! -12C at 7pm, it makes you wonder...

[Interitus]

I think we were just 0.4 degrees away from -20 in Dec 2010...Chesham i think. Pershore and Topcliffe also came very close with temps of -19 or lower but I dont think we ever quite hit -20. Could it be as far back as Jan 82 that England reached -20 or lower? Feb 86? Jan 87? Dec 95?

That's why I'm frustrated that the cloud ruined it for tonight, there was a fair chance England could have recorded it's lowest temperature for maybe 30 years! -12C at 7pm, it makes you wonder...

Chesham?? No, it's an unofficial station.

Officially the Met Office give Shawbury -19.6c and Pershore -19.5 on 19/12/2010

[Aaron]

It got to -20c in December 2010 i think, or at least some places were very close, i can certainly remember it being -19c or -20c at Topcliffe.

I know a frost hollow in North Yorkshire fell to -19.7c, but it's not an official station but is very accurate

[Interitus]

Last night has proven you don't necessarily need very cold uppers and long drawn easterlies and northerlies over deep snow cover to produce very low mins in this country (lower than -18 degrees). All you need is a long established cold pool sitting over the country in stagnant air - though a bit of snow cover helps...

I get what you're saying, but the very cold uppers and long drawn easterlies are what gave rise to the established cold pool over western Europe and the UK in the first place.

[damianslaw]

I think we were just 0.4 degrees away from -20 in Dec 2010...Chesham i think. Pershore and Topcliffe also came very close with temps of -19 or lower but I dont think we ever quite hit -20. Could it be as far back as Jan 82 that England reached -20 or lower? Feb 86? Jan 87? Dec 95?

That's why I'm frustrated that the cloud ruined it for tonight, there was a fair chance England could have recorded it's lowest temperature for maybe 30 years! -12C at 7pm, it makes you wonder...

Jan 1987 produced -23 degrees in Caldecott in Oxfordshire. I'd like to know how low temps got in both Jan 2010 and Dec 1995. We beat -18 degrees in Dec 2010.