On Dec 19, 6:13*pm, John Hall wrote:
It now seems unlikely that the CET of this month will be any higher than
1.0C and it could well be quite a bit lower than that. I decided to see
how it might rank amongst cold Decembers of the past. Here are the
coldest Decembers in the CET record:

1890 * *-0.8
1676 * *-0.5
1788 * *-0.3
1796 * *-0.3
1878 * *-0.3
1874 * *-0.2
1784 * * 0.3
1981 * * 0.3
1844 * * 0.4
1673 * * 0.5
1678 * * 0.5
1683 * * 0.5
1846 * * 0.5
1870 * * 0.6
1879 * * 0.7
1680 * * 1.0

Should this December manage to beat 1981, then it will be the coldest
since 1890. The number of cold Decembers at the end of the 17th century
isn't surprising, but the number in the 1870s is interesting. 1870,
1874, 1878 and 1879 were all cold (and of course 1890 was the coldest of
all).

Incidentally, the calendar year 2010 is now certain to have the lowest
CET since at least 1996, and could well be the coldest since 1986:

http://www.climate-uk.com/provisional.htm
--
John Hall
* * * * * * * * "I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly,
* * * * * * * * *will hardly mind anything else."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-84)

My own guess is the the December CET will be below 0°C and may
even challenge the 1890 figure. The mean here so far is -0.6°C and
there is no obvious reason why anywhere in the CET area should be any
higher.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.