The year of 2020 kept the best until last at Laurieston – in freezing weather terms at least.
The coldest temperature of the entire 12 months was recorded early on Hogmanay morning.
Local atmospheric scientist Geoff Monk noted a temperature of –5.2C at his meteorological station.
December 2020 as a whole turned out to be chillier than the two previous Decembers, Mr Monk’s logbooks show.
The mean monthly temperature of 4C compared with 5.1C last year and 5.5C in 2018.
Mr Monk said: “It was colder than recent Decembers but not exceptionally so. The mean maximum was 6.2C which was about 1.5C down on the past two Decembers.
“And the mean minimum temperature of 1.8C compared with 2.7C in 2019 and 2.9c in 2018.”
In other findings, December 2020 turned out to be wetter than normal with 225mm of precipitation.
The month was mild up until the 22nd, the exception being a few light frosts between December 4-8.
The first significant snow of the winter fell overnight on December 27-28 – around 5cm.
Mr Monk has noted a discernible shift in winter weather patterns over recent decades. He said: “In the past 20 years there is a definite trend towards warmer winters.
“That’s probably attributable to having more winters off the Atlantic than we had previously.
“We don’t know whether that change is as a result of climate change cause and effect or is just the luck of the draw.”
The lowest maximum daytime reading was recorded on the 28th – a chilly 1.3C.
