UK winter the coldest since late 1970s

The UK winter has been the coldest for more than 30 years, according to figures released by the Met Office.

The mean UK temperature was 1.5C (34.7F), the lowest since 1978/79 when it was 1.2C (34.16F), the organisation said.
The mean is worked out by taking the average of the daytime maximum temperature and night time minimum over a 24 hour period.

Since mid-December cold weather has often dominated much of the country, with spells of snow and very low temperatures.
Overnight temperatures have fallen as low as minus 22.3C (minus 8.14F) at Altnaharra, Highland - the lowest UK minimum since 1995, the Met Office said.
MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, has said that England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have all had their coldest winter season (December to the end of February) since 1978/9.
The average winter temperature of 2.4C (36.3F) in England was the lowest since that year, MeteoGroup said. Read more.