I can feel it in my cold bones

-12.6C is the current coldest so far.

I think a few others have fallen by the wayside too.

I see the Met Office has posted -12.6C at Tomintoul as the lowest temperature overnight. I was not aware that this was one of their "official" stations - it is not included in the 99 group of climate synoptic stations not the MIDAS stations for which the annual data are only released each year.

So does the Met Office also have a series of "unofficial" amateur stations that they can refer to? If so does anyone have a list?

Perhaps the rules can change to each country? Or failing that, break down to counties for the waysiders and that includes me of course.

Seems a bit unfair to change the rules part way through the competition. 

I understand it's a new Met Office manual station installed back in March

https://www.facebook.com/TomintoulWeather/  

It's listed here: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-synoptic-and-climate-stations 

Yes, over on NW they were getting excited about it last month - it's an official station and it's apparently in a very cold area, so should be good for some decent lows!

EDIT: Wiki describes the location thus:

Tomintoul has an oceanic climate (Cfb), bordering on subpolar oceanic (Cfc). Since March 2025, Tomintoul has an official MetOffice weather station. Manual readings are sent to the Met-Office on a daily basis. ...

Due to the villages' location northeast of the Cairngorms massif, it is exposed to many snow-bearing wind directions; this is consolidated by its elevation of 345m above sea level and its latitude at 57°N. As a result, Tomintoul is one of the coldest and snowiest settlements in the UK.

It is definitely in a wintry location but not a frost hollow as such so it will be interesting to see how cold it gets compared to other places.  (For example Braemar) Definitely a useful addition.

I think there is a slim chance the lowest may be yet to come 😉

Edit: I've just seen –12.6°C.

I must have been close too? What was the official  lowest temp? 

Apologies for messing up yesterday - I can only put it down to being tired after staying up for the New Year. 🤭

The lowest official temperature was -12.6. Therefore, in accordance with rules 4 and 5, TheJudge is the winner! 

So TheJudge, please ensure you've got a free site account, set-up here if you don't:

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twousers/user.aspx 

Then contact me by email or use the site feedback here:

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/twofeedback.aspx 

Blimey I knew I must have been close but didn’t  think I’d won it 😂 thank Brian I’ll contact you 👍