Cold

Following on from the heavy snow of the night before, last night the temperature here dropped to -8.5C, that is, according to the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory live weather data.  According to the Met Office Latest Observations page the temperature last night dropped well below -10C in several places in England, Scotland and Wales.  The record seems to have been -17.1C recorded at RAF Benson, just 23km north from here:

This brings back memories of the winter of 1981-82. I was living in Guisborough at the time. One night in December, I was out in the back garden with my telescope, trying to follow some variable stars.  There was compacted snow and ice under foot and my fingers were starting to stick to the metal parts of the telescope. Then I noticed that the thermometer had gone off the bottom of its scale at -13C, and I realized it was rather risky for me to be outside by myself. I had no desire  to be discovered frozen solid with my eye still at the eyepiece the following morning.  So I abandoned my observing session and went back indoors.  I later discovered that a weather station at Wilton ICI, just 6km away, recorded -17C that night.

Update on Fri 2010-01-08 by Tristram Brelstaff

According to later reports, the coldest was -18C recorded at Woodford in Cheshire.  However that did not show up on the hourly temperatures for Woodford on the Met Office site.