ossettweather.com
Inevitably comparisons have been made with previous winters in an effort to decide just how bad this winter has been.
There’s plenty of information on the web about the worst winters the UK has suffered. I think it is fair to say that 1947 had the greater amounts of snowfall whilst 1963 was colder. Indeed 1963 is the 3rd coldest winter on record since records began in 1660. On the same ranking the winter of 1947 is in 13th place out of 350 years, remarkable for a winter always spoken about as so severe.
The following website article, (click the image to read), gives a good insight into the winters of 1963 and 1947 and goes some way to explaining why the winter of 1947 is 13th position in the list of worst winters. My estimate for the winter of 2010 is that it will be around 75th in the list based on my figures for December and January. We had a mild couple of weeks to start December. However a cold February could change everything.
January 2010 Details
Temperature Data
Maximum temperature [warmest day?] 8.7°C on 18th & 27th January
Lowest maximum temperature [coldest day] -0.4°C on 8th January
Minimum temperature [coldest night] -4.9°C on 3rd & 7th January
Maximum average temperature 6.3°C on 18th January
Lowest average temperature -2.7°C on 7th January
Smallest temperature variation in 24hrs 0.6°C on 13th January [0.9°c to 0.6°C]
Largest temperature variation in 24hrs 6.2°C on 29th January [6.1°C to – 0.1°C]
Rainfall Data
Rainfall in month 39.2 mm (long term average 43.8mm)
Wettest day in month 22nd January 16.5mm
Most rainfall in 1 hour on 22nd January 3.5mm (13:30 to 14:30)
Wind Speed Data
Maximum wind speed 7.5 mph on 27th January
Maximum wind gust speed 12.9 mph on 12th January 09:30
January 2010 Weather Summary
January has been a cold month. We had our heaviest snowfall for many years on the 5th January. The cold weather meant the snow hung about for quite a while. As usual the snow caused widespread disruption to daily life.
