When do members normally get their first frosts of the season

[cheese]

Here in Falmouth, the date when I may get my first air frost here this winter? Possibly NEVER!

Glad I don't live there!

[Essan]

Some years, not until December! :o

[TonyH]

October 2010 saw 6 air frosts here (down to -5.6c 25th), the first air frost of the season being -1.8c on September 26th, in contrast the following year the first air frost was just -0.2c on October 28th.

Edited October 8, 2013 by TonyH

[Jax]

Don't seem to recall us getting many much befor Nov here.

[reef]

Here its generally anywhere from mid-October to early January(!):

 

1981/82: 15th Oct1993/94: 16th Oct1992/93: 19th Oct1997/98: 29th Oct2008/09: 29th Oct1985/86: 3rd Nov1988/89: 3rd Nov1989/90: 6th Nov1996/97: 10th Nov1991/92: 17th Nov1998/99: 17th Nov2005/06: 17th Nov2004/05: 20th Nov1990/91: 21st Nov1983/84: 22nd Nov2010/11: 25th Nov1980/81: 28th Nov1987/88: 28th Nov2012/13: 30th Nov1999/00: 5th Dec1995/96: 7th Dec2003/04: 7th Dec2001/02: 9th Dec1982/83: 12th Dec1994/95: 15th Dec2007/08: 15th Dec2000/01: 16th Dec2002/03: 18th Dec2009/10: 18th Dec2011/12: 18th Dec2006/07: 21st Dec1984/85: 27th Dec1986/87: 3rd Jan

 

[damianslaw]

Here its generally anywhere from mid-October to early January(!):

 

1981/82: 15th Oct1993/94: 16th Oct1992/93: 19th Oct1997/98: 29th Oct2008/09: 29th Oct1985/86: 3rd Nov1988/89: 3rd Nov1989/90: 6th Nov1996/97: 10th Nov1991/92: 17th Nov1998/99: 17th Nov2005/06: 17th Nov2004/05: 20th Nov1990/91: 21st Nov1983/84: 22nd Nov2010/11: 25th Nov1980/81: 28th Nov1987/88: 28th Nov2012/13: 30th Nov1999/00: 5th Dec1995/96: 7th Dec2003/04: 7th Dec2001/02: 9th Dec1982/83: 12th Dec1994/95: 15th Dec2007/08: 15th Dec2000/01: 16th Dec2002/03: 18th Dec2009/10: 18th Dec2011/12: 18th Dec2006/07: 21st Dec1984/85: 27th Dec1986/87: 3rd Jan

 

Interesting to note how late in the season it took for you to record an air frost in what turned out to be cold winters i.e. 2009/10, 1984/85 and 86/87 - all these years saw mild/very mild Novembers. Whereas some of those years which saw an early frost i.e. 97/98, 92/93, 88/89, 89/90 and 91/92 saw mild/very mild winters.. a bit of a pattern here perhaps..

[AderynCoch]

The 3rd January 1987 one is very interesting. Frosts would have been like buses that month.

[Costa Del Fal]

Glad I don't live there!

Particularly nice on nights out when you dont really need a coat and its still near 10c or so when the rest of the country is frigid and hassling with coats etc! I dont mind a little cold weather but only when there is snow about. Very slim chance of that here unless you get a proper easterly!

Edited October 8, 2013 by Blizzards

[MP-R]

In YATTON, North Somerset:

 

First air frosts

 

2012: 31st October

2011: 10th December

2010: 21st October

2009: 01st December

2008: 29th October

2007: 12th November

2006: 01st November

2005: 14th November

2004: 14th November

2003: 25th October

2002: 19th October

 

Averaging the day number in the year of all these, it would appear the average first air frost since my records began is 6th November. Ground frosts come much earlier though, often in early-mid October bar the milder autumns.

[reef]

In YATTON, North Somerset:

 

First air frosts

 

2012: 31st October

2011: 10th December

2010: 21st October

2009: 01st December

2008: 29th October

2007: 12th November

2006: 01st November

2005: 14th November

2004: 14th November

2003: 25th October

2002: 19th October

 

Averaging the day number in the year of all these, it would appear the average first air frost since my records began is 6th November. Ground frosts come much earlier though, often in early-mid October bar the milder autumns.

 

It just shows how difficult it is to get an early season frost in my location. I certainly wouldn't have expected 10 out of the last 11 years to have had a later first air frost here than in North Somerset!

 

I'm guessing its because the first frosts in the season are generally caused by anticyclonic conditions following northerly airflows and we're quite exposed to the wind in those situations around here. Not to mention cloud!

[cheese]

For Church Fenton:

 

2012: 25 November

2011: 20 October

2010: 25 October

2009: 10 November

2008 29 October

2007: 20 October

2006: 4 November

2005: 18 November

2004: 12 November

2003: 23 October

2002: 21 October

[Mark Neal.]

Northern areas could see a frost perhaps by dawn tomorrow, into the single digits and close to 3c/4c in some spots, i guess the nagging brisk wind would play a part in it staying frost free!

[Terminal Moraine]

Despite the altitude my location isn't prone to either early or late frost as, being almost at the top of a hill, under the circumstances when most places record their first frost ( clear, quiet anticyclonic conditions )the cold air drains away into the valleys; also there's almost always a breeze up here and cold nights depend on cold upper air rather than radiative cooling.

Over the last 35 years the average date for the first air frost is November 17th. The earliest was October 16th in 1992 and the latest was December 24th in 2006.

Over the last 15 years the average date for the first ground frost is October 14th. The earliest was September 18th in 2007 and the latest was November 14th in 2005.

[MP-R]

It just shows how difficult it is to get an early season frost in my location. I certainly wouldn't have expected 10 out of the last 11 years to have had a later first air frost here than in North Somerset!

 

I'm guessing its because the first frosts in the season are generally caused by anticyclonic conditions following northerly airflows and we're quite exposed to the wind in those situations around here. Not to mention cloud!

 

Looking at your location it is at first surprising to hear of how late you get the first air frost, but you know your local climate better than I do. Many think of North Somerset as this mild/warm wonderland in the southwest but those characteristics don't really become a reality until you get down to coastal Devon and into Cornwall. In easterlies and northeasterlies it can get very cold here being so far away from the sea over which the air travels. Equally, in northerlies (especially topplers) the west ending up on the more anticyclonic sees the winds drop as you've pointed out so the temperature falls quickly. In the case of October 21st 2010, a ridge had extended into the southern half of the UK with a westerly flow over the top which could explain why I received an air frost and you didn't.

 

No denying though, you get better snow.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Miguel Hugo Roberto

[cheese]

Reef is close to the North Sea and Humber estuary, so not very surprising. We got a sharp air frost in Oct 2010.

[Gavin Hannah]

First frosty windscreen this morning. Temp of 0 degrees at 7.25am. Brrrrrrr.

[smithyweather]

And where do you live???

[smithyweather]

Think I might be in with a chance tonight tbh if I am lucky.