§ Dame Judith Hartasked the Secretary of State for Defence what temperatures have been recorded for the Meteorological Office at Carnwath, Lanarkshire, in each winter month in each of the last five years; and what is the latest temperature recorded.
§ Mr. LeeThere is no meteorological office at Carnwath, Lanarkshire. However, temperature measurements are available to the Meteorological Office free of charge from a voluntary climatological observer there. These consist of daily maximum and minimum temperatures and the temperature measured at 9 am each day and are reported monthly in arrears.
To extract from archives the 2,700 temperatures recorded over the period requested would involve disproportionate effort. The latest measurement, obtained by telephone from the volunteer, the minimum temperature on 21 January 1985, was minus 10°C. However, the following details are illustrative.
545W
Absolute maximum (°C)
Highest daily mean (°C)
Monthly mean (°C)
Lowest daily mean (°C)
Absolute minimum (°C)
December 9.1 5.1 -3.4 -12.3 -18.8 1982 January 9.5 7.9 -0.7 -15.9 -24.8 February 10.5 7.5 3.6 -2.3 -8.8 March 13.6 8.3 3.6 -0.3 -6.4 October 15.5 11.3 7.8 3.5 -3.0 November 12.0 10.0 4.7 -0.1 -7.3 December 10.2 6.3 1.4 -4.3 -9.3 1983 January 10.9 7.8 3.9 -3.0 -8.9 February 7.7 3.9 0.1 -3.4 -9.9 March 10.7 8.4 4.6 -0.3 +5.9 October 18.0 15.0 7.5 0.7 -7.3 November 13.2 10.9 4.8 -3.4 -11.4 December 11.9 8.5 3.9 -3.3 -8.9 1984 January 9.8 4.5 -0.2 -11.3 -19.5 February 8.3 6.0 1.9 -2.9 -10.1 March 10.6 7.7 2.7 -2.9 -6.4 October 16.5 12.9 8.0 4.1 -2.3 November 12.8 9.0 5.4 -2.3 -7.6 December 11.4 9.0 3.5 -3.8 -9.9