Minus 22 means Scotland 'as cold as South Pole'

Published on Friday 8 January 2010 09:02

Scotland suffered its coldest day of the big freeze so far as temperatures plunged as low as the South Pole today.

• Reader Anna MacKenzie captured this wintry scene near Selkirk for our snow map

The mercury plummeted to minus 22.3C at Altnaharra in Sutherland this morning – close to the minus 22.9C currently at the southernmost part of the globe.

The freezing weather again caused school closures in parts of Scotland and police urged drivers to watch out for black ice on the roads.

Britain's coldest temperature this morning was in the tiny village of Altnaharra.

The remote settlement already holds the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded in the UK – minus 27.2C on December 30, 1995.

At nearby Kinbrace temperatures dropped overnight to minus 20C while in the Glasgow area it was minus 8.6C and minus 10.7C around Edinburgh.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for the whole of Scotland, warning of widespread icy roads around the country.

Yesterday Dumfries and Galloway Council said gritting crews were experiencing difficulties with machinery and fuel freezing but the fight to clear roads continued.

Icy conditions caused real problems for drivers across the country, as this YouTube video clearly shows.

• Travel update: The latest road and rail info

• Schools update: The latest closures

• Your pictures: Ice and snow in Scotland

Outlook

Forecasters said the weather would remain bitterly cold today.

John Hutchinson, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, said: "Through today we have sunny spells throughout Scotland with snow showers in the east, particularly the south east. It's just going to stay very cold.

"Temperatures will recover a bit but will remain below zero across Scotland. In some parts of the Highlands temperatures will stay below –5C all day.

"In Glasgow and Edinburgh the temperatures will stay below zero peaking around -1C and –2C but they will drop back later on in the day.

"Friday night looks like being another extremely cold one with temperatures in the Highlands reaching as far as –20C and there's a risk of snow coming into the far north."

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