This turned out to be a bit of suprise. -5C in Altnaharra, the September record is only -6.8C.

The models completely failed to get this one right, with even the usually reliable WRF not even going for subzero temps.

We have another opportunity tonight at the record, the airmass will be a bit colder and winds will again fall light in NW scotland with clear skies.

Its still a very long shot to get there but it does seem like its possible.

 

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Does anyone know if -5.0°C is a date record?

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Not quite a record here, and not even an official air frost at any of my three local stations.

However, the overnight minimum temperature did get down to 2.0°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, and to no higher than around 1°C at Edinburgh Airport.

That was enough to give us our coldest night of this autumn so far, but the fact that this wasn't a record breaking night is shown by the fact that it is actually possible to get an official air frost here at this time of the year.

That is shown by the 1981-2010 averages which show that during the month of September, we can expect to see an average of 0.3 air frosts at Edinburgh Gogarbank.

However, such an occurrence is very rare, and that is shown by the fact that the 1981-2010 average number of air frosts during September at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh is zero, in line with the three summer months.

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This turned out to be a bit of suprise. -5C in Altnaharra, the September record is only -6.8C.

The models completely failed to get this one right, with even the usually reliable WRF not even going for subzero temps.

We have another opportunity tonight at the record, the airmass will be a bit colder and winds will again fall light in NW scotland with clear skies.

Its still a very long shot to get there but it does seem like its possible.

 

Given that most of our temperature records these days are for high temperatures, it should be easy to see why the models would therefore have such a hard time with dealing with any potential cold temperature records.

 

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Saturday night/Sunday morning could possibly be one to watch for a record. A fairly widespread slight air frost over much of Scotland and parts of Northern England. The temperature forecast charts don't suggest anything too dramatic but these charts obviously wouldn't flag up lower temperatures in prone spots. Worth a look on Sunday.

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Saturday night/Sunday morning could possibly be one to watch for a record. A fairly widespread slight air frost over much of Scotland and parts of Northern England. The temperature forecast charts don't suggest anything too dramatic but these charts obviously wouldn't flag up lower temperatures in prone spots. Worth a look on Sunday.

Yes also possible though I'd worry that a warmer airmass may encourage fog to form.

 

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Today will be our first single figure maximum by some margin most likely.
Overcast with spots of rain at 6.6C currently.

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Given that most of our temperature records these days are for high temperatures, it should be easy to see why the models would therefore have such a hard time with dealing with any potential cold temperature records.

 

I would think it's more likely that the models don't factor in very local variations such as frost hollows. A few miles from Altnaharra it could easily have been above zero.

 

I wonder why Torro doesn't list daily low minima between June and September? http://torro.org.uk/lowtempsyear.php

 

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Answering my own question about summer minima, from this article in Weather which lists daily maxima and minima:
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.1477-8696.2000.tb04084.x 

"The extremes listed are limited to sites below 500 m, excluding ‘high-level’ weather stations which are not at permanently inhabited heights (e.g. Ben Nevis Observatory!). The highest village in England is Flash (Staffordshire) at 463m. Reported minima for June to September include many readings from such upland sites, making the compilation of a daily list of minima for this period of the year impracticable. "

It does list minima for each 10 day period for June to September though.

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Does anyone know if -5.0°C is a date record?

 

Right, if this morning's record counts as the 24th then it beats the 2003 Kinbrace temp on this short list:

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/47373-record-maxima-for-each-date-in-september/page__view__findpost__p__689806

 

From what I think I know, minima before 9am count towards the date in question and those after 9am are actually counted as the next calendar day?

 

I remember the arguments in 2010 when Altnaharra hit -20c at 10am on some date.

 

 

 

Answering my own question about summer minima, from this article in Weather which lists daily maxima and minima:
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.1477-8696.2000.tb04084.x

"The extremes listed are limited to sites below 500 m, excluding ‘high-level’ weather stations which are not at permanently inhabited heights (e.g. Ben Nevis Observatory!). The highest village in England is Flash (Staffordshire) at 463m. Reported minima for June to September include many readings from such upland sites, making the compilation of a daily list of minima for this period of the year impracticable. "

It does list minima for each 10 day period for June to September though.

I would have though though that even in summer the lowest minima would be recorded in the frost hollow type sites, just as they would be during the rest of the year, given clear, calm conditions in a cool airmass.

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According to BBC breakfast this morning it was the coldest September night in Scotland since 1997.

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This turned out to be a bit of suprise. -5C in Altnaharra, the September record is only -6.8C.

The models completely failed to get this one right, with even the usually reliable WRF not even going for subzero temps.

We have another opportunity tonight at the record, the airmass will be a bit colder and winds will again fall light in NW scotland with clear skies.

Its still a very long shot to get there but it does seem like its possible.

 

It's actually -6.7C  and was at Dalwhinnie back in 1942 :) 

Answering my own question about summer minima, from this article in Weather which lists daily maxima and minima:
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/j.1477-8696.2000.tb04084.x

"The extremes listed are limited to sites below 500 m, excluding ‘high-level’ weather stations which are not at permanently inhabited heights (e.g. Ben Nevis Observatory!). The highest village in England is Flash (Staffordshire) at 463m. Reported minima for June to September include many readings from such upland sites, making the compilation of a daily list of minima for this period of the year impracticable. "

It does list minima for each 10 day period for June to September though.

The metoffice also have a page with extreme records here..

 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-extremes

however it doesn't do date records

 

 

Nothing of note here as usual in the most boring place in the country for weather. Just a dismal cloudfest.

Hasn't dropped below 4C this month and last night didn't drop below 6C so far from the coldest September night for over 20 years here

My record (since 2005) is 1.6C on 23rd September 2012 and no chance of that being approached with all this pointless cloud.

Temperature reached -1.3C at nearby Mannofield on 27th September 1974. Hard to imagine recording a frost in September these tedious days when it hardly even happens in October not even in a cold one like last year 

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Meteireann is now forecasting a pretty widespread air frost here on Saturday night with temperatures down as low as -2 C quite generally. There is a real potential for a record to be set given that, according to Met Eireann, -3 C is the record low for RoI for September. Not sure what the NI record is but that must be under threat too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Ireland

I think that Scotland will also get some unusually low temperatures on Saturday night as well.

Edit: On doing a little more digging, the NI record September low is similar at -3.6 C at Katesbridge, Co. Down. Not exactly a long standing record, though. It was set on 29 Sept. 2018.

 

 

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Meteireann is now forecasting a pretty widespread air frost here on Saturday night with temperatures down as low as -2 C quite generally. There is a real potential for a record to be set given that, according to Met Eireann, -3 C is the record low for RoI for September. Not sure what the NI record is but that must be under threat too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Ireland

I think that Scotland will also get some unusually low temperatures on Saturday night as well.

Edit: On doing a little more digging, the NI record September low is similar at -3.6 C at Katesbridge, Co. Down. Not exactly a long standing record, though. It was set on 29 Sept. 2018.

 

 

-3.5c in Offaly back in '72. 

Near zero temperatures and ground frosts are not unusual here in September but are in short supply this year with mean minima running near 2.0c above average for the month to date. 

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Really feels pretty chilly here today, after an overnight low of 3C it is currently 12.4C with a dewpoint of 2.2C and 37mph gusts blowing things all round the garden.

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Not much of a source available for deep cold air yet - Iceland is covered in snow and there's some on the mountains in Norway - but look at the amount of open water in the Arctic. icebreakers - who needs them?

https://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_asiaeurope.gif

 

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It reached 0.5 C here which is quite impressive given that we regularly don't get our first frost until November. The lowest temperature that I have seen for Ireland was -2 C at Markree Castle, Co. Sligo. With tonight forecast to be colder, there is every chance of a new September record for Ireland at least.

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