I see that Altnaharra is currently (10pm) at 3.1°C. Will we see the first air frost of the autumn tonight (unless I have already missed it? If not, does anyone want to have a punt at when the first official sub-zero of the autumn will be reached and where?

I don't think we will get there tonight but perhaps somewhere may do so in the next week or so?

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got very close back in august.. 0.2C at kinbrace on the 5th. I would have thought autumn started in august for the North of Scotland.

 http://uk.weather.com/story/news/august-2013-weather-review-20130904

It can get pretty chilly in more northern parts in August. Thanks for that Kinbrace value, I hadn't noticed that one. 👍

The drop from summer to autumn seems to have been sudden up here. At the beginning of the week we reached 25°C. It could be a long time before we reach that again!

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There was a technical grass frost down this way last week at Hurn(Bournemouth). With the nights getting long now I'm sure you'll get some up there soon

So no need to wait a week.

Altnaharra dipped to at least-1.7°C night.

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Impressive - must be very wintry there in dense fog!

One day too soon for my prediction game entry

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28C here yesterday today we will be lucky to hit 16C!!

I can't rember the last time it didn't exceed 18C, combined with the heavy rain for today and its quiet a dramatic switch to autumn for me.. A real shock to the system!!! Lol.

At the other end of the scale, Writtle hit 30.2°C yesterday and according to ogimet that equals the UK maximum seen on 11th September 2006 at London Heathrow.

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Here is the info from my AWS 2 miles west of Kinbrace next to the River Helmsdale

http://thelocalweather.co.uk/kinbrace.html

Good spot Doc and a very good site Frost Hollow! The lowest minimum in August was 0.2C at Kinbrace on the 5th so we just missed one then - i think it would have counted as an early frost rather than a late one although since the highest temperatures ever have occurred in the first half of August you could argue either way. Last night's minimums were...

-2.4 Kinbrace (Sutherland)

-2.0 Altnaharra (Sutherland)

-0.6 Tulloch Bridge (near Ben Nevis)

-0.4 Tyndrum (south-west Highlands)

-0.2 Elphin (Sutherland)

Also, 1.3 at Saughall in South Lanarkshire and unofficially just below zero in parts of the western Southern Uplands.

Across in Northern Ireland it was 0.4 at Castlederg and in the middle of the Republic it dipped to 1.1 at Gurteen

Great info 

Out of interest how did you get the Kinbrace Hatchery reading?

This may sound obsessive, but given that there was thick fog and sub zero conditions is it possible that we could have seen a few flakes of snow in NW scotland last night?

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Unlikely. One of the contributing factors to the frost was clear skys.

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Yes but I think the coldest locations were also foggy rather than having clear skies (or at least that was the case around Altnaharra). Quantum is asking about the snow crystals that would form in the fog under freezing conditions rather than that falling from higher level cloud (I think, and apologies to Q if that is not the case!)

To answer Q's question, I don't think it is likely but that is more of a hunch on my part than an informed statement. I have a feeling that the temperature would need to have been a bit lower and for a bit longer for that to happen

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Ringwood,Hants also hit 30.2c yesterday

It all makes for a rather large diurnal range (or at least 24hr period range) across the UK. From +30 to -2°C south to north and max to min respectively. A bit of summer and winter - and average them to get autumn!

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Quite an extreme 24 hours, we've had 52mm of rain to complete the scene - to some extent a product of that temperature difference.

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Last night saw the first air frost in England this autumn: -0.3 at Redesdale Camp (Northumberland).