Top ten: Coldest Christmas days

Merry Christmas from the Met Office.

The coldest Christmas day on record was in 2010 (and it was also the snowiest) with a minimum temperature of – 18.2 °C recorded at Altnaharra. The chart below shows the top ten minimum temperatures recorded on Christmas day (excluding high level sites).

	Location	Minimum temperature	Date
1	Altnaharra	- 18.2 °C	25/12/2010
2	West Linton	- 15.6 °C	25/12/1981
3	Altnaharra	- 15.5 °C	25/12/2009
4	Altnaharra	- 12.8 °C	25/12/1996
5	Lagganlia	- 9.5 °C	25/12/1973
6	Dalwhinnie	- 9.4 °C	25/12/1995
7	Aboyne	- 9.4 °C	25/12/2006
8	Kindrogan	- 8.8 °C	25/12/1972
9	Glenlivet	- 8.5 °C	25/12/2000
10	Lower Kingcombe	- 8 °C	25/12/1994
10	Tulloch Bridge	- 8 °C	25/12/2005
10	Aboyne	- 8 °C	25/12/2007

Read more top tens.

Recent rainfall totals

Rain has continued to cause disruption across parts of the UK, with overnight rain adding to significant totals over the past few days.

The wettest place in the UK (and Scotland) since the heavy rainfall began on 19^th December to 6am this morning has been Tyndrum in Perthshire, with 155.0 mm of rain.

Cardinham near Bodmin, Cornwall, is the wettest place in England with 128.8 mm of rain and the wettest place in Wales has been Mumbles Head, West Glamorgan, with 107.0 mm of rain.

Ballypatrick Forest in Antrim has been the wettest place in Northern Ireland, with 89.0 mm of rain.

Some areas have exceeded their full-month December average since the 19^th – such as Plymouth, Devon, which has seen 128.8mm of rain compared to a December average of 118.8 mm.

Below is a table of the wettest places in the UK from 0000 HRS on 19th December to 0600 HRS today, 24th December. The final column shows the monthly average for December, clearly showing some places have exceeded their monthly totals:

SITE NAME	AREA	PRECIP AMOUNT(mm)	DEC AVG(mm)
TYNDRUM	PERTHSHIRE	155.0	300.9
CARDINHAM	CORNWALL	128.8	155.1
PLYMOUTH	DEVON	127.4	118.8
LISCOMBE	SOMERSET	125.2	171.2
OKEHAMPTON	DEVON	115.0	184.2
MUMBLES HEAD	WEST GLAMORGAN	107.0	110.3
TREDEGAR	GWENT	102.2	169.0
CARDIFF, BUTE PARK	SOUTH GLAMORGAN	97.0	125.3
SENNYBRIDGE NO 2	POWYS	96.2	179.5
ST ATHAN	SOUTH GLAMORGAN	93.2	122.4
DYCE	ABERDEENSHIRE	92.4	76.1
CARTERHOUSE	ROXBURGHSHIRE	92.4	132.0
CRAIBSTONE	ABERDEENSHIRE	92.0	79.8
BALLYPATRICK FOREST	ANTRIM	89.0	133.9

There is more unsettled weather to come this week, so for the latest information keep up to date with our forecasts and warnings.

Top ten: Snowiest Christmas days

Snow at Christmas is recorded in two ways – the number of stations that reported snow falling, and the number of stations that recorded snow on the ground at 9 am. The two charts show the snowiest Christmases for both measures since 1959.

The snowiest Christmas in terms of snow on the ground was in 2010, when 83% of stations recorded snow.

	Year	Percentage of stations reporting snow lying
1	2010	83%
2	2009	57%
3	1981	52%
4	1995	40%
5	2004	34%
6	1999	30%
7	1964	22%
8	1993	21%
9	1970	20%
10	1968	14%

The year when the highest number of stations reported snow falling was 2004, when 61% of stations reported snowfall.

	Year	Percentage of stations reporting snowfall
1	2004	61%
2	1970	57%
3	1993	51%
4	1995	49%
5	1964	47%
6	1968	43%
7	1999	42%
8	2001	40%
9	2000	35%
10	1966	31%

Visit our website to see the full history of snow at Christmas or find out how much snow we get in the UK each year.

Related articles

• Will it snow this Christmas? (metofficenews.wordpress.com)

Will it snow this Christmas?

With just over a week to go to Christmas Day we are being asked whether the cold weather will return to give us a white Christmas.

Unfortunately it’s still a little too early to say exactly what the weather will bring to the UK on the big day, but it does look as though the early predictions quoted in the press of snow falling in many places on Christmas Day and more recent white Christmas is “a dead cert” could end up being somewhat wide of the mark.

The current Met Office UK Outlook for Sunday 23 Dec 2012 to Tuesday 1 Jan 2013 suggests that the unsettled conditions we have at the moment are expected to continue until the New Year:

“The rather changeable weather is likely to persist into the beginning of January with low pressure expected to be dominant near the British Isles. The north of the UK is most likely to see colder than average conditions, with relatively typical amounts of rainfall. During the same period, temperatures over the south are likely to be closer to average whilst rainfall amounts may be a little above average. Uncertainty then increases significantly into the final week of the period, with no clear weather type favoured, perhaps indicating less unsettled conditions.”

Of course we will continue to update the forecast as Christmas approaches, with the first forecast for the day itself published on our website later this week.

So if you are in search of a white Christmas signs are that many of us may be a little disappointed again this year, but you can find out more about white Christmases in the UK in the following video:

Is it really that mild?

Over the next few days we’re expecting maximum temperatures of up to 13 deg C in places, with fairly widespread mild temperatures expected in most places both by day and night.

This is in stark contrast to this time last year when temperatures were well below average, with most places struggling to get above freezing during the day.

While there is a big difference from one year to the next, there is nothing unusual about the milder temperatures we’re expecting over the next few days.

Although they are above the UK long-term average maximum temperatures for December of 6.9 deg C, it’s still quite normal to see temperatures several degrees above that.

If we go back just three years to December 2008, we can see temperatures on the 21^st of the month getting up to 14.5 deg C in Usk, Monmouthshire. Elsewhere, Edinburgh and Newcastle hit  13 deg C and London got up to 12.8 deg C.

There are many other incidences even in relatively recent years when temperatures have been equal or above those we expect this year – so there is certainly nothing exceptional in the forecast.

To give an idea of how warm it would have to be to break records, the warmest temperature ever recorded in December is 18.3 deg C at Achnashellach, Highland, on 2 December 1948. We’re not expecting temperatures to get anywhere close to this in the next few days.

Even if we focus on Christmas Day, we’re expecting temperatures of 10-12 deg C across the UK which is, again, nothing exceptional. The record for Christmas Day is 15.6 deg C at Killerton in Devon in 1920 and at Leith, Edinburgh in 1896.

Related articles

• UK weather forecast: Breeze from tropics takes the chill off Christmas (dailymail.co.uk)
• No White Xmas as UK turns ‘tropical’ (thesun.co.uk)
• Will it be warmest Christmas on record? Temperatures hit double figures across the country (dailymail.co.uk)

Infographic: How often has it been a white Christmas

It may not look like it will snow at Christmas this year, but we’ve taken a look back at how often we’ve seen snow fall or snow on the ground on Christmas Day over the past 50 years.

For more information on snow at Christmas, take a look at our white Christmas page.

Met Office in the Media – 25 November 2011

There are a couple of interesting articles about the weather in today’s press.

First of all, in the Daily Telegraph, a contradictory story with a headline which claims we shouldn’t “expect a big freeze this Christmas“. The introduction goes on to say the Met Office is predicting “unseasonable weather” – when actually, we are predicting normal weather for the time of year.

The Met Office quote further down the article gives a more accurate picture: “Last December saw a very prolonged period with wave after wave of cold spells and snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures. Rather than that, it looks like we’re in for a mixed, unsettled December this year, with some cold spells but also milder spells.”

To clarify, last year we had the coldest December in more than 100 years. The Met Office forecast for 30 days ahead, which still does not cover the whole month of December, suggests that we are unlikely to see a repeat of the persistent and extreme cold and snowy conditions that we saw last year.

Instead the current Met Office forecast is for much more normal conditions for the time of year, with periods of wind and rain interspersed with colder spells bringing some overnight frost and a chance of snow – mostly over the higher ground in Scotland. As always we will keep the British public warned and informed when severe weather is expected to affect the UK through our 5 day forecasts and our National Severe Weather Warning Service.

There’s also an article in the Daily Express which suggests Scotland will be “blanketed” with snow. There has been some snowfall in Scotland overnight and this morning, but – as forecast by the Met Office – this has generally been on high ground above 400m. We are expecting further snowfalls over the next few days, but again only on the high ground in Scotland.

 

A very cold Christmas

The very low overnight temperatures have continued across much of the UK, with minimum values well below freezing on Christmas morning. Temperatures have generally fallen to the range of -5C to -15C. The lowest temperature overnight was Altnaharra in the Highlands with -18.2 C, followed by Castlederg in County Tyrone with -17.1 C.

Elsewhere, Pershore in Worcestershire fell to -16.8 C and Sennybridge in Powys dropped to -13.4 C.

Merry Christmas from us all at the Met Office.

Another very cold night in many areas

It was another very cold night across many parts of the UK, with temperatures falling as low as -17.4C at Castlederg in County Tyrone.

The tables below show the lowest temperatures (below minus 5 C) recorded at a selection of Met Office observing sites last night and snow depths recorded at 9am this morning.

Location	Minimum temperature (°C)
CASTLEDERG	-17.4
KATESBRIDGE	-15.6
Derrylin Cornahoule	-14.5
ST ANGELO	-14.3
TYNDRUM	-14.1
PORTGLENONE	-13.4
Bridgefoot	-13.2
BALLYKELLY	-13.1
MACHRIHANISH	-12.9
TULLOCH BRIDGE	-12.8
SHAP FELL	-12.8
ESKDALEMUIR	-12.6
Cluanie Inn	-12.1
Newton Rigg	-12
TRAWSGOED	-11.7
ALDERGROVE	-11.7
CARLISLE	-11.6
WOODFORD	-11.6
Myerscough	-11.6
WEST FREUGH	-11.5
Drumnadrochit	-11.3
LOCH GLASCARNOCH	-11
PRESTWICK RNAS	-11
KESWICK	-10.9
DRUMALBIN	-10.8
LOUGH FEA	-10.8
STRATHALLAN AIRFIELD	-10.7
SENNYBRIDGE	-10.7
Carterhouse	-10.6
DALWHINNIE	-10.6
Newport	-10.4
AUCHINCRUIVE	-10.3
Llysdinam	-10
WARCOP RANGE	-9.9
ALTNAHARRA	-9.9
EDINBURGH/GOGARBANK	-9.8
CASSLEY	-9.7
LEEMING	-9.5
PERSHORE	-9.2
Altnahinch Filters	-9.1
THREAVE	-9
SPADEADAM	-8.7
HAWARDEN	-8.6
PEMBREY SANDS	-8.6
STONYHURST	-8.5
AVIEMORE	-8.4
CAIRNGORM	-8.4
ISLAY/POST ELLEN	-8
CROSBY	-7.9
Winchcombe Sudeley Castle	-7.9
DUNSTAFFNAGE	-7.9
EAST OKEMENT FARM	-7.8
HEREFORD/CREDENHILL	-7.7
WALNEY ISLAND	-7.5
Blencathra	-7.4
Exeter Airport	-7.2
REDESDALE CAMP	-7.2
GREAT DUN FELL	-7.2
Porthmadog	-7.2
Murlough	-7.1
GLASGOW/BISHOPTON	-7
SHAWBURY	-7
Ballywatticock	-7
KINLOCHEWE	-6.9
SKYE/LUSA	-6.7
WICK	-6.7
DISHFORTH AIRFIELD	-6.7
LEUCHARS	-6.5
ALBERMARLE	-6.4
ROCHDALE	-6.3
CAIRNWELL	-6.2
KILLOWEN	-6.2
Bainbridge	-6.2
SALSBURGH	-6.2
Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens	-6.1
GLENANNE	-6
SHOBDON	-5.9
Coton-in-the-Elms	-5.9
RHYL	-5.8
MANCHESTER  HULME LIBRARY	-5.7
KINBRACE	-5.6
Leek	-5.5
Levens Hall; Kendall	-5.5
BALLYPATRICK FOREST	-5.4
COLESHILL	-5.4
SOUTH UIST RANGE	-5.4
PERSHORE COLLEGE OF HORTICULTURE	-5.4
DUNDRENNAN	-5.2
LISCOMBE	-5.1
VALLEY	-5.1
Bradford	-5.1
ST BEES HEAD	-5
YEOVILTON	-5
KEELE	-5
Source: Met Office

 

Christmas weather

Very cold but mainly weather is expected during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with the chance of scattered snow showers along some eastern coasts.

Met Office forecasters said: “Many places will be dry but with daytime temperatures remaining below freezing during the day and very low overnight”.

Met Office forecasters continued: “For most places, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will have a respite from the snow but there will some severe frosts and freezing fog patches at night. So, while there will still be snow lying on Christmas Day the day itself is expected to be dry and fine in most parts of the UK. At this stage, only the places that might see snow showers on Christmas Day are some eastern coasts of England and Scotland. The cold weather is expected to last into Boxing Day too”.

Below is a media forecast for use in print publications. All temperatures are in degrees Celsius and represent those likely to be seen in urban areas. Rural areas are likely to be significantly colder at night. For the latest weather forecasts and warnings you should refer to the Met Office website where regional and location based forecasts are available for the next 5 days.

	Southern England	Northern England	Scotland
Christmas Eve	Bright. Very cold. Possible snow/ showers on east coast Max: 1 Min:  minus 5	Bright and very cold. Possible snow showers on east coast Max: Zero Min:  minus 10	Bright and very cold. A few coastal snow showers. Max: Zero Min:  minus 10
Christmas Day	Dry and bright but risk of snow showers on east coast. Very cold Max:  minus 2 Min:  minus 8	Dry and bright but very cold Max: minus 3 Min:  minus 10	Dry, bright and very cold. Max:  minus 1 Min:  minus 10
Boxing Day	Bright, risk of further sleet or snow in west. Very cold. Max: 1 Min:  minus 5	Bright, risk of further sleet or snow in west. Very cold. Max:  minus 1 Min:  minus 10	Dry, bright at first sleet or snow late. Very cold. Max: Zero Min: minus 6
Christmas Monday	Mainly dry risk of sleet or snow, perhaps drier in east Max: 2 Min: minus 5	Mainly dry and bright but very cold. Max: Zero Min: minus 4	Mainly dry and bright but chance of snow in the west. Max: 2 Min minus 5
Christmas Tuesday	Rather cloudy, wintry mix of rain, sleet or snow. Max: 4 Min: minus 2	Rather cloudy with wintry showers. Max: 3 Min: minus 2	Chance of wintry showers. Max: 3 Min: minus 1
Source: Met Office