UK weather stations with most airfrost

[boywonder]

 

Number of days of average air frosts at low lying places according to met office 1981-2010 figures :

Braemar     101.7 days
Dalwhinnie 97.2 days
Aviemore    88.7 days

Loch Glascarnoch 85 days
Aboyne        85. 9 days
Esdalemuir  84.1 
Tulloch bridge     80.5
Redesdale camp 78.9
Altnaharra            77.7
Santon downham 76.5
Shap 74.5
Spadeadam 74
malham 73

Englands highest is redesdale camp at an average of 78.9 while Katesbridge's was NI coldest with 57 airfrosts . Sennybridge topped wales with 65 average days of airfrosts. I wouldnt mind moving to Braemar or Dalwhinnie though . I was most surprised with Altnaharra as it usually has the coldest temperatures along with braemar and expected it higher on the list. 
     

[Norrona2015]

Grampian region, of which Braemar is part of, also holds the UK record for the greatest number of minus 20*C and below temperatures. 

[boywonder]

4 hours ago, Norrona2015 said:

Grampian region, of which Braemar is part of, also holds the UK record for the greatest number of minus 20*C and below temperatures. 

I think braemar is the only place in UK to record below - 20 in November , Decemeber , January , February and March . Thats some record

[hillbilly]

Interesting  as Braemar may hold the lowest minimum  and most air frosts but does not do so well with lowest  maximum to be honest I don't know  the lowest max or where holds it but am fairly sure  my local met office at Bingley holds the monthly lowest maximum  of minus 0.9 deg in Feb 1947

Edited November 22, 2016 by hillbilly

[boywonder]

The coldest overall is Dalwhinnie with an annual temperature of 6.6 C followed by by Braemar at 6.8 C . 

[Norrance]

51 minutes ago, hillbilly said:

Interesting  as Braemar may hold the lowest minimum  and most air frosts but does not do so well with lowest  maximum to be honest I don't know  the lowest max or where holds it but am fairly sure  my local met office at Bingley holds the monthly lowest maximum  of minus 0.9 deg in Feb 1947

The lowest max is -15.9C at Fyvie Castle, also in Grampian in Dec 1995. Many places in the Highlands, Grampian and Tayside have had maxima below -10C.

[damianslaw]

I'm surprised at the stats for Altnaharra, given it shares the equal joint coldest min recorded in the UK with Braemar. Perhaps it's due to its more westerly location, more exposed to the atlantic and frontal systems than Braemar and thus more prone to thaw action.

What is the lowest absolute max recorded in England. I suspect it may be Shawbury on 12 Dec 1981.

[boywonder]

1 hour ago, damianslaw said:

I'm surprised at the stats for Altnaharra, given it shares the equal joint coldest min recorded in the UK with Braemar. Perhaps it's due to its more westerly location, more exposed to the atlantic and frontal systems than Braemar and thus more prone to thaw action.

What is the lowest absolute max recorded in England. I suspect it may be Shawbury on 12 Dec 1981.

Altnaharra has an amazing weather . Numerous times it has been both the hottest and coldest place the same day .

 

Recent notable cold spells at altnaharra include -22.3 in 2009 and -21.2 in december 2010 . Been a consistent performer.

 

[Norrance]

Altnaharra has only relatively recently had an official reporting station so may well have had other very low temps unrecorded in the past. There has been a reporting station in Braemar for far longer but not always at the same spot. 

Incidentally I suspect that Braemar must be the highest official station that has reported + 30C in the UK.

[hillbilly]

23 hours ago, damianslaw said:

I'm surprised at the stats for Altnaharra, given it shares the equal joint coldest min recorded in the UK with Braemar. Perhaps it's due to its more westerly location, more exposed to the atlantic and frontal systems than Braemar and thus more prone to thaw action.

What is the lowest absolute max recorded in England. I suspect it may be Shawbury on 12 Dec 1981.

English lowest maximum was -11.3 deg on 11th jan 1982 Newport shropshire

[iapennell]

On 11/23/2016 at 22:02, hillbilly said:

English lowest maximum was -11.3 deg on 11th jan 1982 Newport shropshire

It is Newport (Shropshire) that also holds the all-time minimum air temperature for England, -26.1C early on 10th January 1982, almost one month after the -25.2C recorded at nearby Shawbury. Minima below -20C occurred widely across England during these extremely cold clear and calm periods during December 1981/January 1982- locations as far south as Grendon Underwood (Bucks) reporting such minima. Given the right conditions, a very cold dry airmass, deep powdery snowcover clear skies and an absence of wind very low temperatures can occur anywhere away from the Coast and with the proviso the locations concerned are not on steep hillsides above about 50 metres- from where rapidly-cooling air drains away. I expect we will see a few winter spells like this once more in the coming Grand Solar Minimum when the QBO is strongly easterly over preceding months.

[iapennell]

At just over 400 metres above sea-level in the North Pennines, I record more air-frosts than the surrounding lowlands (typically 70 to 80) and in 2010 logged 119 air-frosts. However, extreme minima are not so spectacular as my weather-station is on a hillside (where the very cold dense air drains off on clear nights), I logged nothing below -11C in December 2010 but at the hotel where I work in the valley below (just one mile away) it dropped to -15C and Haydon Bridge (in the South Tyne Valley less than 20 miles away but at lower elevation) -19C was recorded that month and water running down the weir (under the bridge that gives Haydon Bridge its name) froze solid!

[hillbilly]

1 hour ago, iapennell said:

At just over 400 metres above sea-level in the North Pennines, I record more air-frosts than the surrounding lowlands (typically 70 to 80) and in 2010 logged 119 air-frosts. However, extreme minima are not so spectacular as my weather-station is on a hillside (where the very cold dense air drains off on clear nights), I logged nothing below -11C in December 2010 but at the hotel where I work in the valley below (just one mile away) it dropped to -15C and Haydon Bridge (in the South Tyne Valley less than 20 miles away but at lower elevation) -19C was recorded that month and water running down the weir (under the bridge that gives Haydon Bridge its name) froze solid!

Yes strange how altitude affects temperature .I used to live at 340m and it was always between  2and3 degrees colder than  in the valley  at 80 m winter and summer  only at very cold temps does this change possibly below -8 or so.got a few days around -11,-12 and one -13 in 2010  but in the valley made-17.we did however  get many more days around -12 in 1981/82 than in 2010

[March Blizzard]

I wonder how many Woodford had before it's closure. That was a frost hollow that could record some really low temperatures.

[Frost HoIIow]

1 hour ago, hillbilly said:

Yes strange how altitude affects temperature .I used to live at 340m and it was always between  2and3 degrees colder than  in the valley  at 80 m winter and summer  only at very cold temps does this change possibly below -8 or so.got a few days around -11,-12 and one -13 in 2010  but in the valley made-17.we did however  get many more days around -12 in 1981/82 than in 2010

Indeed. All year round during clear skies & calm winds at night I always seem to be about 3C or more colder than a relatives weather station at 250m in Saddleworth - during Jan 2010 I recorded almost -18C here but their station out in the open didn't get below -10C because they lived on top of a hill so they miss the cold draining into the valley below them.

Calm or light winds are also harder to achieve on high ground which adds to the problem of getting properly low temps there & clouds form more over high ground further contributing to a warmer blanket effect. Of course it's a different ball game in the Himalayas as that sort of height certainly does guarantee bitter temps! most know this when you are on a plane over 25,000 feet & it tells you the temp outside. But "low" high ground if that makes sense like in this country doesn't apply in that regard.

In this country like any other it snows more on higher ground but that's not always solely to do with the temperature - the dew point is lower on higher ground plus orographic lifting increases the intensity of precip the higher one goes giving higher snow totals. So this gives an impression that it's a lot colder on high ground. Not completely true. A lot of people don't know Altnaharra weather station is only 81m asl & situated on the bank of the River Mudale yet it recorded -27.2C.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Frost HoIIow