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Despite the current cold spell, it may well end up that 2010 does not add any new low minima (I suppose the -18.9 deg. C. on 19.1.1966 is the most vulnerable, though only on 7th/8th January 2010 has a lower temperature than this been recorded so far this winter; unfortunately, 8.1.1982 recorded -26.8 deg. C., probably the 2nd lowest temperature ever recorded in Britain, so the -22.3 deg. C. at Altnaharra on 7th/8th is well above this).

It however seems even less likely that any new records will be set for maximum temperatures in January, though I suppose 24th (14.4 deg. C. in 1937 and 1962) and 25th (13.9 deg. C. in 1997) are possible.

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Regarding the low temperatures in Northern Ireland in December 1981 and 1995 (a) I think I have elsewhere referred erroneously to the former as on 13th December and not 12th December 1981 (b) Philip Eden informs me by E-mail "I've looked through the Daily Weather Summary produced by London Weather Centre, and there are some annotated maps, including minimum temperature, for the period you're interested in. The figures are rounded to the nearest degree, and it is difficult to be precise about the geographical locations, but for December 27 there is a minimum of -15°C (i.e. -14.5 to -15.5) at what appears to be Castlederg, though it may be an adjacent station."

Castlederg is in West Tyrone and has often had the highest summer temperatures in Northern Ireland (e.g. the highest for the year in August 2002, August 2003, July 2006 jointly with Peatlands Park in Co. Armagh, June 2007 & July 2008) but also can record quite low temperatures (for Northern Ireland). There are, or were, at least a couple of weather stations somewhat west of it (Corgary and Cross Hill) and it is possible that it was one of these rather than Castlederg which recorded the very low temperature in December 1995, but on the whole I would plump for Castlederg.

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In my post of 24.1.2009 20.40 I mistyped 1997 instead of 1995, although I was quite aware that 1995 was the sunnier summer.

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http://www.metoffice...aximum_scotland mentions an 18.3 deg. C. on 26th Janaury 2003 at Inchmarlo, Kincardineshire, as, along with 18.3 deg. C. on the same day at Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, as the January record for Scotland; this is of course also the same as the British record, which was also recorded on 27th January 1958 and 10th January 1971, both at Aber in North Wales - see http://www.metoffice...y_maximum_wales

This is another temperature record which seems to have gone unreported for some years, though this is a joint record, and was not unreported for nearly as long as the 25.6 deg. C. on 29th March 1968 at Mepal in Cambridgeshire, which overtook the previous record of 25.0 deg. C. on the same date at both Cromer and Santon Downham in Norfolk, along with less satisfactory records of 25.0 deg. C. at Wakefield in Yorkshire in March 1929 and 1965 and Whitby also in Yorkshire also in March 1965 - see http://www.personal....er_in_march.htm and http://www.metoffice...minimum_england