Parts of UK had 67 consecutive days of snow of 1962-63 - but that wasn’t the coldest
The icy grip of the so-called Beast from the East continues to tighten on the British Isles, with more snow, wind and punishingly cold temperatures on the way.
As temperatures plummet to as low as -15C, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is the coldest winter on record.
However, the winter of 2017-18 is actually relatively mild compared to some that have come before.
Which winter holds the distinction of “coldest on record” depends on the data and criteria used.
By monthly mean temperatures, December 2010 holds the record for the coldest December since Met Office records began in 1910, at -0.7°C.
But according to the Central England Temperature (CET), a record of monthly mean temperatures dating back to 1659, December 1890 was marginally colder, with a mean of -0.8°C.
If judged by the mean temperature for an entire winter (December, January and February), the coldest-ever season title belongs to the winter of 1962-63, when a freak cold snap brought much of the country snow for 67 consecutive days up until early March. Temperatures fell as low as -19.4°C in parts of northern Scotland.
However, there are two winters that reportedly break even that record, according to CET measurements: 1683-84, followed by the marginally less chilly 1739-40.
The coldest single temperature ever recorded in the UK is claimed, unsurprisingly, by Scotland. In 1895 and 1982, Braemar in Aberdeenshire hit an overnight low of -27.2°C, a temperature matched in 1995 by Altnaharra in the Highlands.
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