A night to remember as cold snap hits Yorkshire

In Bradford, there was a record low night-time temperature on Thursday when it dropped to 2.8C, the lowest August temperature since 1908.

The temperature was recorded at Bradford’s Lister Park. The previous coldest August night in Bradford was in 1931 when it was 3.3C.

Braemar in Scotland was the coldest spot at -2.1C.

Several weather stations across the UK recorded their coldest August temperature, including Bainbridge in North Yorkshire (0.5C) and Redesdale Camp, Northumberland (-0.7C).

The Bradford record was more significant than others because it has the longest historical data set, going back to 1908.

A Met Office spokesman said: “It’s worth noting that none of these break the all-time record low UK temperature for August, which is -4.5C recorded at Lagganlia, in Inverness-shire on August 21 1973.”

The cold snap, which saw the unprepared shivering in their beds, was caused by northerly winds which dragged cold air over the UK. The air was also dry which meant there was little moisture to retain the heat.

The figures were released on the same day that the Met Office revealed that the summer was the second wettest on record across England and the UK as a whole, using rainfall data going back to 1910.

The last six summers have all been wetter than average. Two of the wettest summers on record were in 2007 and 2010.

Weathermen say the reason for the poor summers is the jet stream which has been too far south over the last few years.

There are two current theories for this.

One is linked to melting Arctic ice and the other suggests it is caused by protracted solar
activity, as happened in the early 1800s.