"Mike Tullett" wrote:
On Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:43:29 -0000, Philip Eden :

Well, whoever said that was talking through their fundament and
probably deserves a good spanking thereupon. Here are the stats
for Dec/Jan combined:

Station 09/10 96/97 95/96 81/82 78/79
Lerwick 3.3 3.9 3.7 1.9 2.2
Kirkwall 3.8 4.1 4.4 2.4 2.8
Stornoway 4.2 4.7 5.1 3.4 3.7
Tiree 4.5 5.2 5.5 4.2 4.3
Glasgow 1.3 3.1* 2.9* 0.3* 1.5*
Eskdalemuir 0.1 1.4 1.8 -0.8 -0.1
Edinburgh 1.5 3.3* 3.2* 0.2* 1.7*
Leuchars 1.8 3.0 3.5 0.9 1.9
Dyce 2.1 3.3 3.1 0.7 1.7
Braemar -1.7 0.0* -0.1* -2.4 -0.9
Aviemore -0.7 1.2* 1.3* -1.7* -0.8*
Wick 3.2 3.3 4.0 1.9 2.9
* Change of site

So every station was colder in 81-82, some by more than
a degree (quite a large margin when you're looking at
two-month averages), and 8 of the 12 were colder in
78-79 as well.

Philip - would that also be the case here in NI? I ask as the local Met
Office forecaster on BBC1 said tonight that the Dec/Jan period here was
the
coldest in over 45 years (ie since 62/63).

Mike, I've only checked the figures for Aldergrove.
NI did not share in the long sequence of extremely low
night minima in Jan 1982, so that Dec/Jan was marginally
less cold. However, Dec/Jan 78-9 was colder at
Aldergrove. I've not checked 95-96 or 96-97.

2009-10 2.8°C
1981-82 3.0°C
1978-79 2.4°C

It's just possible, I suppose, that the regional NI
figure was the same as or slightly lower this year
than in 78-79, but a similar figure should suggest
that some parts of Ulster were higher and some
were lower, which would not excuse the dogmatic
"lowest for 47 years" ... at least for anyone with
half a brain :-)

Philip