Last month was the coldest December documented for the UK since nationwide records began 100 years ago, the Met Office has confirmed.
For central England, it was the second coldest December since 1659.
However, the first analysis released of global temperatures shows 2010 was one of the warmest years on record.
The UK’s harsh weather was caused by anomalously high air pressure that blocked mild westerly winds and brought cold air south from the Arctic.
The provisional monthly Met Office figures show the UK temperature averaged -1C – a long way below the previous coldest December, in 1981, which registered -0.1C.
The December average for the century-long series is 4.2C.
It was also the coldest calendar month since February 1986, the Met Office reports.
“It’s been an exceptional month, there’s no question about that – it will go down in history as one to remember,” said chief meteorologist Ewen McCallum.
“Our records go back to 1910 and it’s certainly the coldest since then, so it’s the coldest December in 100 years,” he told BBC News.
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This planet is too hot, this planet is too cold, this planet is just right.
What do you think? Are we dead yet?
Somehow, I think chicken little is coming out of the closet.
Oh least I forget, will it be no food and no water, then we will all cook, or is it freeze to death, I have lost touch. Climate change be dammed.
If it does not hurry up, I am going to die of boredom and/or old age.