The UK Met Office has revealed that December 2010 has become the coldest December across the UK since the national series began in 1910. The mean temperature for the UK has been -1.0 °C, well below the long term average of 4.2 °C. The previous coldest December in the series was 0.1 °C, in 1981.
The provisional UK, England and Wales figures for December 2010 show that the month was the coldest month since February 1986. In Scotland it was the coldest month since February 1947, and in Northern Ireland the coldest month on record.
December 2010 saw some exceptionally cold and snowy weather across much of the country, with temperatures quite regularly falling to between -10 and -20 °C overnight. Many places also saw temperatures struggling to get above freezing by day.
In the last 100 years, the UK has experienced five colder months – January 1940, February Although it has been very cold and snowy it has also been relatively sunny and dry. Precipitation (rain and snow) was well below average for the UK, recording just 38% of what is normally expected in December. This makes it the third driest December in the series that goes back to 1910.
Sunshine hours were 39% above normal, with an average of 53 hours recorded for the UK, making it the third sunniest in the series that goes back to 1929. Provisionally it was the sunniest December on record across Northern Ireland.
By Emdad Rahman