https://www.thecourier.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/04/coldest_cities.jpg

The attached appeared in our local paper today. Taken from Met Office winter stats from those cities over the last  30 years. Interestingly Perth which came out as coldest city had the same average max as Leeds and Bradford but was colder overnight.

Well no surprises there then.. Portsmouth is the 3rd warmest 🤣

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/04/coldest_cities.jpg

It says 'ranked by annual average minimum temperature'. Not very useful really as inland southern locations will be notably warmer by day for half the year. If there was a city on the Isles of Scilly it would come up trumps. But that's a place that finds it hard to feel warm! 

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https://www.thecourier.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/04/coldest_cities.jpg

It says 'ranked by annual average minimum temperature'. Not very useful really as inland southern locations will be notably warmer by day for half the year. If there was a city on the Isles of Scilly it would come up trumps. But that's a place that finds it hard to feel warm! 

That does seem a strange way of doing it. It makes it even more surprising that Swansea was warmer than Plymouth or Portsmouth. 

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The coldest villages and towns, as far as I'm aware are Braemar and Dalwhinnie. As for the coldest major city, I'd probably say Aberdeen wins that title.

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Aberdeen is on the coast so warmer in South Easterlies and at times gets very high temperatures due to the Fohn effect in SW winds and night temps are rarely very cold. However the differences in all the Scottish and N E English cities were very small overall.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/04/coldest_cities.jpg

It says 'ranked by annual average minimum temperature'. Not very useful really as inland southern locations will be notably warmer by day for half the year. If there was a city on the Isles of Scilly it would come up trumps. But that's a place that finds it hard to feel warm! 

Yes. It's a pretty meaningless table if that's the parameter they're using.

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Yes a strange parameter. But even taking it as just the coldest minimum it doesn't make any sense to me.

Not sure how Leeds and Bradford can be 2nd and 3rd. Firstly there is no official station in Leeds , the old Leeds Weather Centre on the roof would be nowhere near the coldest . Bradford has a station which is not frost prone due to elevation and urban location. This area in general isnt usually that cold overnight due to elevation, urban location, more cloud and wind than some other areas.


York has lower minimums that Leeds, Bradford and Manchester (despite this saying otherwise) due to being in the Vale of York but is actually warmest by day and by far the most pleasant climate out of cities I mention.

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https://www.thecourier.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/04/coldest_cities.jpg

The attached appeared in our local paper today. Taken from Met Office winter stats from those cities over the last  30 years. Interestingly Perth which came out as coldest city had the same average max as Leeds and Bradford but was colder overnight.

 

Sad to see Lancaster and Carlisle have been stripped of city status

Yes a strange parameter. But even taking it as just the coldest minimum it doesn't make any sense to me.

Not sure how Leeds and Bradford can be 2nd and 3rd. Firstly there is no official station in Leeds , the old Leeds Weather Centre on the roof would be nowhere near the coldest . Bradford has a station which is not frost prone due to elevation and urban location. This area in general isnt usually that cold overnight due to elevation, urban location, more cloud and wind than some other areas.


York has lower minimums that Leeds, Bradford and Manchester (despite this saying otherwise) due to being in the Vale of York but is actually warmest by day and by far the most pleasant climate out of cities I mention.

They must be using Bingley since it is the closest Met Office station to central Leeds which has freely available data. It's very misleading though as the Bingley weather station is nearly 300m asl and nowhere in Leeds is anywhere near that high, let alone Leeds city centre which sits in a valley. Even the town of Bingley itself is only 84m asl so the Bingley weather station isn't even representative of the town! I don't know why they put a weather station there in the first place when it doesn't accurately represent anywhere but a windswept hill.

Totally stupid list. 

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There is Bradford Lister Park too (available on Met Office website each month), closer to Leeds than Bingley, but obviously Bradford. Who knows.

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Yes a strange parameter. But even taking it as just the coldest minimum it doesn't make any sense to me.

Not sure how Leeds and Bradford can be 2nd and 3rd. Firstly there is no official station in Leeds , the old Leeds Weather Centre on the roof would be nowhere near the coldest . Bradford has a station which is not frost prone due to elevation and urban location. This area in general isnt usually that cold overnight due to elevation, urban location, more cloud and wind than some other areas.


York has lower minimums that Leeds, Bradford and Manchester (despite this saying otherwise) due to being in the Vale of York but is actually warmest by day and by far the most pleasant climate out of cities I mention.

Similarly the York data is not from York, it's from RAF Linton-on-Ouse which is 10 miles or so NW of the city and is a) colder in winter than York and b) cooler in summer. (I've compared with the University of York data).

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I remember averaging out the Leeds Weather Centre data and it was warmer in the summer than Church Fenton, both maxes and mins, and of course was much milder at night in winter especially. Leeds' record high temp is 34.4C in August 1990. I think only the Bawtry September record is higher in Yorkshire.

If Leeds Weather Centre still open then Leeds would probably be one of the warmest cities on that list.

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I am surprised to see Sheffield as down as low as no. 47 on the list. I grew up in nearby Doncaster, though spent a lot of time in Sheffield during summer holidays especially, and this general metropolitan area always seemed to be cooler, and snowier in winter, than nearby Manchester, which ranks as the 7th coolest city. 

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