December 2010 likely to be coldest in UK series

As December draws to a close, early provisional figures from the Met Office suggest that this December is very likely to be the coldest across the UK since the national series began in 1910.

This December the average temperature for the UK has been -1.5 deg C, 5.7 deg C below the long-term average of 4.2 deg C.

The current coldest December was in 1981, with a mean temperature of 0.1 deg C.

This December has seen some exceptionally cold and snowy weather across much of the country, with temperatures quite regularly falling to between -10 and -20 deg C overnight, and many places seeing temperatures struggling to get above freezing by day.

Although it has been very cold and snowy it has been relatively sunny and dry.

Sunshine hours were above normal, recording 53 hours, making it the 3^rd sunniest in the series that goes back to 1929.

Precipitation (rain and snow) was well below average, recording only 45.1mm, only one-third of what is normally seen in December. This makes it the 3^rd driest December in the series that goes back to 1910.

EARLY	Mean temperature			Sunshine duration		Precipitation
Provisional  1-28 Dec-2010	Actual	Difference from normal (71-00)	Actual		Difference from normal (71-00)	Actual	Difference from normal (71-00)
	deg C	deg C	hours		%	mm	%
UK	-1.5	-5.7	53.0		138	45.1	36
England	-1.0	-5.7	52.8		118	32.8	36
Wales	-1.0	-5.9	59.8		155	49.2	28
Scotland	-2.5	-5.6	47.1		163	60.8	36
N Ireland	-1.5	-6.2	77.6		229	64.3	54

Looking at the year 2010 as a whole, the UK saw a mean temperature of 7.9 deg C, making it provisionally the 11^th coldest year in the series back to 1910. Sunshine and rainfall were close to the long-term average, making 2010 provisionally the 10^th driest and the 9^th sunniest in the series.

EARLY	Mean temperature		Sunshine duration		Precipitation
Provisional  1 Jan – 28 Dec Ann – 2010	Actual	Difference from normal (71-00)	Actual	Difference from normal (71-00)	Actual	Difference from normal (7100)
	deg C	deg C	hours	%	mm	%
UK	7.9	-0.7	1476.8	109	937.9	83
England	8.7	-0.6	1578.9	108	720.2	86
Wales	8.1	-0.8	1611.1	116	1114.4	78
Scotland	6.5	-0.7	1276.2	107	1231.5	81
N Ireland	7.9	-0.8	1441.9	116	1045.3	94

The full provisional figures for December 2010 will be available in early January. Although it may be a little less cold than the -1.5 deg C recorded here up to the 28th, it is very likely that it will become the coldest December in the UK temperature series which dates back to 1910. Annual figures for 2010 will also be confirmed in January.
Notes:

UK stats for December

• Previous coldest December was in 1981 with a mean temperature of 0.1 deg C.
• The driest is 1933 with 32.4mm
• The sunniest is 2001: 64.3 hours

UK stats for the Year

• The coldest is 1919 with a mean temperature of 7.5 deg C
• The driest is 1933 with 835.4mm
• The sunniest is 2003 with 1586.8 hours