Everywhere in the UK that’s going to be colder than the Arctic Circle this week

All across the country people woke up to bitter temperatures this morning as freezing cold weather swept in from Russia.

By Wednesday night, it’s predicted that more than 20cm of snow will have built up in eastern England and Northern Ireland. And Scotland is expected to have between 5cm and 10cm of snow on Wednesday.

Met Office meteorologist Charlie Powell told the Guardian: “The UK is on track for some really cold weather this week. It’s not going to be record-breaking, but it’ll be pretty exceptional - winds are going to make it feel minus 10C (14F) to minus 15C (5F) during the day.”

It’s even been reported that parts of the UK will be colder than the Arctic Circle. So, using Bodø (below) in northern Norway as our reference point, we found out the cities in the UK that will rival or surpass the Arctic for being unacceptably cold, according to the Met Office and BBC Weather. 

Now, Bodø is pretty damned cold with an average temperature this week of around 0C and a low point of -5C on Tuesday. But, depressingly, there are cities in the UK that will get even colder than that: 

1. Aberdeen

Average temperature of -1C on Thursday (compared to 0C in Bodø)

2. Peterborough

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

3. Birmingham

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

4. Cambridge

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

5. Coventry

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

6. Milton Keynes

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

7. Derby

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

8. Nottingham

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

9. Leicester

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

10. Wolverhampton

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

11. Bradford

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

12. Luton

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

13. Norwich

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

14. Bath

Low point of -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

15. Oxford

Low points of -6C on Tuesday (compared to -5C in Bodø) and -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

16. Reading

Low point of -6C on Tuesday (compared to -5C in Bodø)

17. Exeter

Low points of -6C on Tuesday (compared to -5C in Bodø) and -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

18. Stoke-on-Trent

Low points of -6C on Tuesday (compared to -5C in Bodø) and -5C on Wednesday (compared to -4C in Bodø)

19. Bournemouth

Low point of -7C on Tuesday (compared to -5C in Bodø)

(Images: iStock / Unsplash)