# Keeping pipes unfrozen at -25C **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-pipes-unfrozen-at-25c/810114 "2018-03-06T14:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-pipes-unfrozen-at-25c/810114/21 "2018-03-07T17:46:22Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > It was cold and snowy this morning. A car with Saskatchewan plates passed me. Coincidence? I think not. We just got a winter’s worth of snow in 3 days. Hopes for a damp-free basement this spring dashed at the last minute ! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-pipes-unfrozen-at-25c/810114/22 "2018-03-07T18:41:47Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I think the folk in the Highlands would disagree with you. As recently as 1982 it was -27C in Braemar, just a bit inland from here. Two years later it was a balmy -23 in Grantown-On-Spey. > > Southern England doesn’t even feature in the [top ten](https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/16/top-ten-coldest-recorded-temperatures-in-the-uk/). I said “often”, not always. In absolute terms, Scotland does get lower temperatures (and certainly lower daytime temperatures, so colder on average) but in typical winter high-pressure scenarios, it’s often the southern and central England weather stations that get the lowest _overnight_ readings. In fact my local weather station, Farnborough, was the coldest of any in the UK last month, recording -11.7C on Tuesday night. (I was cycling home about 1am and can confirm it was pretty chilly!). Here’s the [table for that day](https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/maps/current?LANG=en&DATE=1519819200&CONT=euro&LAND=UK&KEY=UK&SORT=3&UD=1&INT=06&TYP=tmin&ART=tabelle&RUBRIK=akt&R=310&CEL=C&SI=mph) and the only colder spots were on top of 3,000ft+ mountains in Scotland. Odiham and Farnborough, both within 7 or 8 miles of here, were both near the top of the coldest spots. Benson, Redhill (now closed) and even Hurn, near Bournemouth, are also often among the coldest places in such conditions - they’re in frost hollows and have sandy soil, so they tend to record lower temperatures than upland locations in the north. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-pipes-unfrozen-at-25c/810114.md?page=1)