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Who can remember the winter of 1962/63, the coldest since 1740? The big freeze began in late Dec and continued until early March with lakes and rivers freezing over. Average temperatures stayed below zero for two consecutive months. In January Dartmoor had a 25ft snowdrift. One of my memories of the snow was quite recently that of Dec 1990 when our Derbyshire village had no power for 3 days. Schools were closed, John couldn't get to work, days were spent sledging in the fields until the children got too cold and we had to trudge home to get warm by the gas fire. Evenings were spent huddling round the said fire playing boardgames by candlelight.
Scotland can boast the coldest UK temperature of -27.2°C recorded at Braemar in Jan 1982 with England having a lowest of -26.1 °C in Newport in Shropshire in the same month. Wales' record is somewhat higher at -23.3°C in Powys was in Jan 1940 with N Ireland positively balmy at -18.7°C in County Tyrone, Dec 2010. No doubt our friends the "Ont-ices" can beat theses records by a mile!!! England can boast the highest UK temperature of 38.5°C in Aug 2003.
The Great Storm of Oct 1987 will also be familiar to most of us particularly Michael Fish who reported several hours before the storm hit "Earlier on today a woman rang the BBC and said she had heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't. Actually the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds will be down over Spain and across into France" ! Oh dear! The storm caused much damage over England felling over 15million trees including six of the famous seven oak trees in Sevenoaks. Winds of up to 122mph were recorded in Norfolk. The storm was responsible for 16 deaths in England.
If you don't like rain, it's not advisable to live near Dalness in Scotland or Seathwaite near Keswick in the Northern Lake District as they both receive around 125 inches of rain per year. Talking of Seathwaite, there’s a story that many years ago a major tyre company wanted to test a new wet weather tyre so they offered free tyres to the residents of Seathwaite. Only problem was, that year the north west of England had a drought and no rain fell in Seathwaite all Summer!
Although I adore hot weather - I can lie in the sun all day reading and doing my killer sudokus on holiday, despite my freckles and fair skin - I am always ready for home and whatever the weather may throw at us!