OT - temperature cold spots

In Coventry we have had about -5 C minimum temperature, and say 2 degrees lower just outside the city. Watching all these weather forecasts about the cold weather, I've noticed there seem to be a few super-cold spots in areas near us (say 50 mile radius). One example is Pershore to the south west (near the Malvern hills), where it was according to the Met office station there, -14 C (this has been exaggerated to -15 and then -16 on the new broadcasts !).

Another area was Benson in Oxforshire, quote: "The temperature in Benson fell to as low as 14F (-18C). Nikki Hamilton, a spokeswoman for RAF Benson, said: "It was absolutely freezing and felt really, really cold. " "Amanda Strickland-Taylor, a fellow Benson resident and classroom assistant, said: "For some reason, we always seem to be the coldest place. It's like we've got our own microclimate here. You could feel the change in temperature last night though. We keep horses nearby in Ewelme, and when we walked back at about 4pm you could actually feel the temperature drop."

Anyone have an explanation for these localised cold spots ?

Cheers, Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson
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Google 'frost hollow'

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Lockshield valve needs adjusting to balance the system

Reply to
John

I will. Another one is Manchester, -15C, liverpool -6C. I wonder if that is the same. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

No. Except if you want bad weather micro-locations check out whether there is or was an RAF aerodrome there. If so, it probably has some such quirk like being the foggiest place in the county.

Seem to remember that Rickmansworth is another cold spot - but that probably busts my RAF test.

But every time I hear or see Benson (and we don't live very far away from that one), I hear "Benson Arizona" running through my head. Thank you Dolittle. Might be a bit warmer there. :-)

A million suns shine down But I see only one When I think I'm over you I find I've just begun The years move faster than the days There's no warmth in the light How I miss those desert skies Your cool touch in the night

CHORUS: Benson, Arizona, blew warm wind through your hair My body flies the galaxy, my heart longs to be there Benson, Arizona, the same stars in the sky But they seemed so much kinder when we watched them, you and I

Now the years pull us apart I'm young and now you're old But you're still in my heart And the memory won't grow cold I dream of times and spaces I left far behind Where we spent our last few days Benson's on my mind

(CHORUS)

And that brings me to tonight's weather forecast whine. Here (High Wycombe) the 24 hour forecast shows the coldest 3 hour period as -6. But the 5 day forecast shows -9.

Never have understood why this sort of discrepancy occurs regularly.

Reply to
Rod

Deffo the frost hollow thing on these cold nights. On one of the weather forums someone described temp dropping by 7 degrees going down into a valley. On the forum they were also complaining about dodgy readings with poor equipment being jump on by the Media. By the way, Manchester -15C was at the airport.

Found this about Benson:

The cold did not come as a surprise to John Smith, 79, who has lived in the village for 50 years. "We've been through it before," he said, as he emerged from the post office on to the icy high street. "We've got the Cotswolds over there to the west and the Chilterns over there to the east and we are in the Thames valley, so the cold slides off the hills down to us," he said, pointing. "We're used to it, but it is cold." Overnight on Wednesday Benson was only two degrees warmer than the South Pole, where temperatures at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica were recorded at -20C. The winter of 1981-2 saw temperatures in the Chilterns, near Benson, below that.

With all this its a bit underwhelming in Coventry !

Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

Yes - cold air sinks.

Being at the bottom of a hill can be enough to get some really stunning frost effects.

For the best frost effects, driving past a power station's cooling towers on Monday (-6oC frost) was just another planet. Every individual leaf on trees & hedgerows had a huge razor of jagged dense white frost, an intense crisp contrast. The frost had been amplified by a continual stream of moisture to create an almost frightening and brutal scene more like the extreme north of sweden after prolonged supercold temperatures (despite it having occurred overnight). What it must be like tonight I have no idea after the snowfall, temperatures & continued cooling tower outfall (probably thick dense fog).

Where I am (further south in Cheshire) today near the bottom of a hill it has been -4oC (11am), -7oC (5pm), -9.5oC (11pm) measured on a window-cill. Drive up the hill and temperatures are noticeably warmer & snow does not crunch, drop to the bottom of the hill & snow crunches hard.

South facing still shows a noticeable benefit - solar gain this morning created 18.4oC in a south facing bedroom vs 14.2oC in one rear facing with 1/3rd the glazing area, insulation, blinds & thermal curtains and heated room beneath.

Frost hollows are the cause for the extreme temperatures in the UK. That said, -7oC at 5pm & -9.5oC now is surprising - frost heave in clay has lifted 3x2 paving all around jamming everything from gates to garages; gaps that were nearly an inch are closed tight with hinges lifted above their washers. Last time I recall frost heave that severe was early 1980s.

Reply to
js.b1

I regularly drive past Teesside airport (recently renamed Durham Tees Valley -- abreviated to Durham in news reports -- Durham is nearer Newcastle airport) Formerly RAF Goospool or later RAF Middleton St George.

It is nearly always (except in high winds) 1-1.5deg colder than surrounding areas. It is also foggier.

Nearby, RAF Thornaby was reputed to suffer from turbulent wind.

I'll get my coat!

Reply to
<me9

And going the other way temperature drops as you get higher too - google "Saturated Adiabatic Lapse Rate" - it's in the region of 1.8C per 1000 feet depending on factors such as humidity..

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

Liverpool is much warmer than Manchester in the winter because Liverpool benefits from its proximity to the relatively warm sea. The Irish Sea temperature is around + 7.0 - 8.0 C so that will have a considerable effect on the coastal climate, which is very mild.

Manchester, 30+ miles inland, does not benefit from this.

Reply to
Bruce

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember sm_jamieson saying something like:

Sky News kept banging on about that, this morning. Absurd.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

The reported low for Manchester was -15, liverpool -6. Manchester does seem unusually low, but the weather station is at the airport which is perhaps in a front hollow or something. I do not think the reported temperatures are what most people living in Manchester would experience. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

People keep going on about this Antarctica thing - and never mention that it's the middle of summer there...

Still at least we're warmer than Commander Powell.

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

Said that to partner earlier. Pillocks aren't they.

Maybe someone needs to start teaching phenomenology? Seems a good way of releasing lots of energy.

Reply to
Rod

Computer generated projections with no sanity checking.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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