13th-19th Feb 1969: -1.71
8th-12th Jan 1968: -1.6
19th-24th Dec 1963: -1.35

23rd-29th Dec 1961: -2.01

 

15th-22nd Jan 1946: -1.51
20th-29th Jan 1945: -3.52
25th-29th Dec 1944: -1.32
16th-23rd Feb 1942: -1.5
14th-22nd Jan 1942: -2.52
15th-19th Jan 1941: -2.04
2nd-6th January 1941: -2.58
 

Interestingly, you take out winter 1962-63, the 60s were not exactly full of prolonged freezing spells. 

Compare that with 1940s, even if you leave out 1940 and 1947. 

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Late 1962-early 1963 is in the table.

Quoted from Kev's list:

13th-19th Feb 1969: -1.71
8th-12th Jan 1968: -1.6
19th-24th Dec 1963: -1.35
16th-20th Feb 1963: -0.74
1st-7th Feb 1963: -2.06
7th-26th Jan 1963: -3.56
23rd Dec 1962-3rd Jan 1963: -2.37
2nd-6th Dec 1962: -1.08
23rd-29th Dec 1961: -2.01

It's in between late 1961 and late 1963.

It's a long time ago now, but I don't think it was Kev's list that I was commenting on but Granddad's table, as linked to in his post on 8th April.

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Thanks. Fascinating stuff. I'd have commented earlier, but I've been away on holiday and offline.

I would have thought that there would be a period in late December 1962 that would meet your criterion of a mean CET of 0.0 or lower over a period of 5 or more days, but it doesn't appear in the table.

Are the dates given those for when the period started or for the day when the 850 mb temperature was at its lowest over the UK? 

Fair enough JH, and apologies; where you hadn't quoted Grandad in your post and referred to the 5-day subzero criterion, which was the same as Kev's opening post, I think a few of us misunderstood who you were responding to. Clearly your mention of the 850s should have let us know!

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Fair enough JH, and apologies; where you hadn't quoted Grandad in your post and referred to the 5-day subzero criterion, which was the same as Kev's opening post, I think a few of us misunderstood who you were responding to. Clearly your mention of the 850s should have let us know!

No problem. I should have been clearer. I think I'd already commented on Kev's post, then went away on holiday for a week or two (this was back in April), came back and saw Grandad's post, and due to the hiatus the potential for confusion didn't occur to me.

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Well with possible Beasts from the eats being mentioned by forecqsters other than James Madden. I thought it might be interesting to go over Kevbrads brilliant list and see what interesting bits could be gleaned from it.

If one puts the 5 days or longer spells into order by lowest temperature the coldest spell of all was in January 1838 with an average daily cet of minus 5.41.

It is also interesting to note that there were there at least 4 spells in the last 90 years that were significantly more severe cold wise tthan any thing on offer in the winters of legend 62/63 and 46/47 and one of them was in the current decade!!
They are the severe spells of
Feb 1929 -4.61
Feb 1956 -4.08
Jan 1982 -4.03
Dec 2010 -3.93

the best 1963 could offer was minus 3.56 and as for 1947 a rather sad minus 2.46 by comparison
The coldest spell of 1963 comes in at 25th in the list of all spells by temperature and the coldest spell of 1947 as low a 69th in the list of all spells since 1772. Indeed taking the colsest spell of winter 1947 as a base there have been 11 colder spells since that winter including all of the subzero spells in the winter of 1981/82! Its seems the longevity of the winters of 46/47 and 62/63 means that the severest cold cannot be kept up through out.

Looking at duration Kev has listed the top 5 but including these there were 48 spells lasting ten days or more on the list with 14 of them occurring between
1917 and 2019. Of the top 5 Kev listed only Jan 1881 breached the minus 4 barrier at minus 4.38.

If we then look at the number of sub freezing days in these sub freezing spells in any calendar year we find that 2010 has 28 days one has to go back to 1963 to find a higher total at 36, 1947 had 41 beyond this only 1814, 1795 and 1784 have a higher number of sub freezing days. pointing up just what an extraordinary year 2010 was in these times of climate change.

There 25 spells which straddled Christmas day.although only seven of these have occured sice the begiining of the 20th century but yet again 2010 appears on the list as well.

The top ten coldest 5 days or longer spells of from 1900 to the present day are as follows

1.Feb 1929 -4.61
2.Feb 1956 -4.08
3.Jan 1982 -4.03
4.Dec 2010-3.93
5.Jan 1963 -3.56
6.Jan 1945 -3.52
7.Dec 1981 -3.51
8.Jan 1940 -3.49
9. Dec 1908-3.12
10 Jan 1987-3.00

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Well with possible Beasts from the eats being mentioned by forecqsters other than James Madden. I thought it might be interesting to go over Kevbrads brilliant list and see what interesting bits could be gleaned from it.

If one puts the 5 days or longer spells into order by lowest temperature the coldest spell of all was in January 1838 with an average daily cet of minus 5.41.

It is also interesting to note that there were there at least 4 spells in the last 90 years that were significantly more severe cold wise tthan any thing on offer in the winters of legend 62/63 and 46/47 and one of them was in the current decade!!
They are the severe spells of
Feb 1929 -4.61
Feb 1956 -4.08
Jan 1982 -4.03
Dec 2010 -3.93

the best 1963 could offer was minus 3.56 and as for 1947 a rather sad minus 2.46 by comparison
The coldest spell of 1963 comes in at 25th in the list of all spells by temperature and the coldest spell of 1947 as low a 69th in the list of all spells since 1772. Indeed taking the colsest spell of winter 1947 as a base there have been 11 colder spells since that winter including all of the subzero spells in the winter of 1981/82! Its seems the longevity of the winters of 46/47 and 62/63 means that the severest cold cannot be kept up through out.

Looking at duration Kev has listed the top 5 but including these there were 48 spells lasting ten days or more on the list with 14 of them occurring between
1917 and 2019. Of the top 5 Kev listed only Jan 1881 breached the minus 4 barrier at minus 4.38.

If we then look at the number of sub freezing days in these sub freezing spells in any calendar year we find that 2010 has 28 days one has to go back to 1963 to find a higher total at 36, 1947 had 41 beyond this only 1814, 1795 and 1784 have a higher number of sub freezing days. pointing up just what an extraordinary year 2010 was in these times of climate change.

There 25 spells which straddled Christmas day.although only seven of these have occured sice the begiining of the 20th century but yet again 2010 appears on the list as well.

The top ten coldest 5 days or longer spells of from 1900 to the present day are as follows

1.Feb 1929 -4.61
2.Feb 1956 -4.08
3.Jan 1982 -4.03
4.Dec 2010-3.93
5.Jan 1963 -3.56
6.Jan 1945 -3.52
7.Dec 1981 -3.51
8.Jan 1940 -3.49
9. Dec 1908-3.12
10 Jan 1987-3.00

2010 was amazing.

 

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24-29 December 1798: -5.38C

That must have been a Christmas and a half... Good God.

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I wonder what the coldest 7 day period ever is in this country - My theory is that it was in January 1740.

Apparently anecdotal records reckon there was a couple of days in which the temperature didn't get above -10C anywhere in the country.

 

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I can spend ages looking at those stats - just love them .

 

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I can spend ages looking at those stats - just love them .

 

Same here HT; check out 20/1/1838. A CET of minus 12! Either an unbearably cold day or a Shawbury 1981 kind of night frost!

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2010 was amazing.

Yup, amazing how we missed out down here! -0.2C was the lowest 5-day mean here during December 2010.

That compares with a 5-day mean of -2.0C as recently as February 2018, for example. It never fails to amaze me just how relatively crummy 2010 was, but on the plus side I do get to grumble about it for the rest of my life!

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A lot of those low means would be associated with pea souper fogs which were far more common when the only source of heat and cooking was wood and coal fires

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Great Stats

What a awful period that was in the 00s.

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Same here HT; check out 20/1/1838. A CET of minus 12! Either an unbearably cold day or a Shawbury 1981 kind of night frost!

That is the coldest 24 hour period ever recorded in the UK.

 

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I'm surprised that 1963 doesn;t feature more strongly. I was in Cambridge that winter, a fairly central location, and there were a couple of successive mornings when the buses didn't run in from the country (West Wratting or that area -one for you Gavin!) because the diesel had frozen in their tanks overnight. That was said to require a temp of -16C. Only one place, and only an overnight reading but it was quite typical of the temperatures being experienced - but not enough, apparently, to crack CET records.

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I'm surprised that 1963 doesn;t feature more strongly. I was in Cambridge that winter, a fairly central location, and there were a couple of successive mornings when the buses didn't run in from the country (West Wratting or that area -one for you Gavin!) because the diesel had frozen in their tanks overnight. That was said to require a temp of -16C. Only one place, and only an overnight reading but it was quite typical of the temperatures being experienced - but not enough, apparently, to crack CET records.

A mate tells me that in 1963 it was possible to jump over power lines because of the deep snowdrifts in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Sounds an unwise sport to me, but with the power cut off....! Simple rural pleasures.

R.

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Yup, amazing how we missed out down here! -0.2C was the lowest 5-day mean here during December 2010.

That compares with a 5-day mean of -2.0C as recently as February 2018, for example. It never fails to amaze me just how relatively crummy 2010 was, but on the plus side I do get to grumble about it for the rest of my life!

That's seems so strange Retron. Down here in normally mild south Dorset. December 2010 was spectacularly cold. The coldest in a record going back to 1879.  However in 2009 when the 'whole' of the UK was white in that famous photo south Dorset was actually the only green spot. So totally understand how local differences can occur.

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Well with possible Beasts from the eats being mentioned by forecqsters other than James Madden. I

The top ten coldest 5 days or longer spells of from 1900 to the present day are as follows

1.Feb 1929 -4.61
2.Feb 1956 -4.08
3.Jan 1982 -4.03
4.Dec 2010-3.93
5.Jan 1963 -3.56
6.Jan 1945 -3.52
7.Dec 1981 -3.51
8.Jan 1940 -3.49
9. Dec 1908-3.12
10 Jan 1987-3.00

What about late December 1995, that was insanely cold. Perhaps the really severe cold didn't last the full 5 days.

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What about late December 1995, that was insanely cold. Perhaps the really severe cold didn't last the full 5 days.

Hi Col.

Late December 1995 was indeed very cold. Insanely so more in Scotland where very luckily I was staying with friends for Xmas and new year. And saw minus 20 on their garden thermometer  However the average daily CET for the spell came in at minus 2.45 which is why it doesn't make the top ten from 1900 to the present day.. It lasted six days and is there on Kev's list at the top of this thread.

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More bits and pieces gleaned from Kevbrads list of sub zero cold spells lasting 5 days or longer.

Looking at cold spells that occured or started in December

 

December by severity of cold

1. 1798 -5.38


2. 1859 -4.89


3. 1874 -4.50


4. 1871 -4.11


5. 1794 -4.10


6. 2010 -3.93


7. 1891 -3.67


8. 1796 -3.59


9. 1981 -3.51


10. 1879 -3.37

Interestingly 3 decembers from the 1870,s and yet again December 2010 makes the list

 

December by duration of spell

 

       1. 1890  18 days

       2. 1796  12 days

       3  1962  12 days

       4. 2010  11 days ( again!)

       5. 1878  10 days

       6. 1844  10 days

       7. 1854   9 days

       8. 1859   9 days

       9. 1788   9 days

     10. 1860   9 days

 

 

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