Winter held its icy grip over Shropshire as temperatures plunged overnight to as low as -11C, making it one of the coldest places in the country
Clearer skies over the eastern area of the county helped the mercury to drop lower with more snow forecast.
John Warner, Shropshire Star weatherman, said today he recorded -11.3C (12F) at his Lilleshall home overnight, which was the coldest since February 1996 when it reached the same temperature.
The mercury was expected to hit -5C (23F) tonight and Mr Warner said: “After midnight the cloud will spread in and we could get a few snow flurries. I think it will turn to drizzle tomorrow morning but it will be a cold, raw, misty day.”
He said temperatures would warm up to about 4C (39F) at the weekend, becoming milder and reaching up to 10C 50F next week.
RAF Shawbury recorded -6C (21F) this morning but spokesman, squadron leader Neil Hope, said the base was protected by cloud cover overnight, which probably prevented temperatures from plunging even lower.
“RAF Cosford stayed clear all night and they got down to -9C (16F),” he said.
Mr Hope said RAF Shawbury’s on-site Met forecaster said if it had been clear, the temperature at the base would have reached -12C (10F), which is the record. In Mid Wales temperatures were still as low as -4C (25F) at 9am, today.
Parts of Shropshire were as cold as north-east Scotland and Cumbria, which also reached -11C, while in Capel Curig it was -10C (14F).
9 Comments
ITS WINTER!
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How is this news? It’s just ordinary weather for this time of year. How is -11C exceptional for Shropshire in January? It simply isn’t.
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So much for global warming!!
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Amazing how everything comes to a halt when it drops below freezing for a few days. And the usual panic from schools who will close as soon as they get the tiniest excuse. You’d think the county council would bang some heads together but in most cases its the council thats the problem; some ‘non-job’ deciding that health and safety dictates they can’t take a chance on people making their way to school by foot OR by car.
One day, when there is a real and genuine emergency in this country, we won’t need to ask why we are so ill-prepared to deal with it.
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Who remembers those -20c and lower temps in the early 80’s now that was News!
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We’ve had it far worse. Back in the eighties it fell as far as -28. Mind you I’m glad I’m sunning myself on holiday at the moment, rather than being in shivering Shropshire.Brrrrrrr!!
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the old people should be given free solar hot water systems and heaters insulation is not enough
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In my day we had temp’s lower than -11 with no central heating in your house, if you were lucky your parents managed to scrape together 2 bob for a couple of bits of coal
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Y Mab Darogan. a couple of pieces of coal. we dreamed of a couple of pieces of coal. we used to give gran a polo mint and all gather round to get the benefit. you didn’t know you where born.(apologies to the four Yorkshire men)
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