The very cold winter (December – February) continued into January 2010. Snow falling, in one form or another, was recorded on 10 days. The 50% snow cover at 0900 was noted on 14 days and for 12 consecutive days from 4th to 15th. The snow depth from each fall was averaged each day over several ground areas and the total for the month was 25cm. With low temperatures and strong winds the wind chill was significant on several days with -11°C and -12°C logged on the 9th and 7th respectively. There were 22 days with air frost (equaling the record in 1985), the lowest occurring on the 7th when the thermometer dropped to -8.5°C (record low was of -13.3°C in 2009). For three days, 6th to 8th, the maximum temperature did not rise above freezing with a maximum of only -1.8°C on the 7th. To add to the picture fog was recorded at 0900 on 5 days.
This was the third coldest January I have observed with the mean temperature of 0.48°C some 3.6°C below the long-term average. Only 1985 (0.30C°) and 1987 (-0.15C°) were colder. The total rainfall, mostly falling as snow, was 81.4mm, which is 93% of the long-term average.
There has been a rising trend for January mean temperatures since the late 1980’s but the Januarys of 2009 and 2010 have reversed that trend.
