Updated: 2026-07-31
The nearest Met Office measuring point to London is the high-beach station in the county of essex, sitting at 110 m elevation, about 20.8 km from the city. Its records give the best long-term picture of agricultural frost risk in the area — but keep in mind that London's local climate can differ, since the station is further inland and at higher ground, away from the urban heat island. These figures describe what the station registers, not a direct measurement of London itself.
Over the 1978-2025 series, the station has recorded between 4 and 79 frost days per year (days with a minimum temperature below 0°C). The most extreme winter was 1979 with 79 frost days, while 2002 saw just 4. On the coldest night in the entire record, the temperature dropped to -10.8°C – the absolute minimum, registered on 12 January 1987, a record that has not been beaten since.
The winter of 1986-87 stands out in the station's history. The coldest night of that winter was -10.8°C on 12 January 1987. The previous year had already seen an extreme cold snap: -10.5°C on 10 February 1986, the second-lowest minimum in the entire record. The same January 1987 cold snap also produced a second day at -10.5°C on 13 January, making it the third-lowest minimum overall.
The coldest night ever recorded at high-beach
On 12 January 1987, the thermometer fell to -10.8°C, the lowest minimum temperature in the station's 47-year record. This kind of extreme is the reference point for what a severe agricultural frost can look like in the region.
These are the five lowest minimum temperatures in the entire series, the events that matter most when thinking about frost damage to crops:
| Date | Minimum temperature (°C) |
|---|---|
| 12 January 1987 | -10.8 |
| 10 February 1986 | -10.5 |
| 13 January 1987 | -10.5 |
| 13 December 1981 | -10.0 |
| 3 January 1979 | -9.9 |
The average number of frost days per month (with a frost day defined as a minimum below 0°C) shows a clear seasonal curve. The data also breaks out "strong frost" days — those with a minimum below -3°C, which are the more dangerous ones for agriculture.
| Month | Average frost days (min < 0°C) | Average strong frost days (min < -3°C) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 10.3 | 3.2 |
| February | 9.5 | 2.6 |
| March | 5.2 | 0.6 |
| April | 2.4 | 0.1 |
| May | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| June | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| July | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| August | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| September | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 3.9 | 0.8 |
| December | 8.0 | 2.2 |
January is the frostiest month, averaging 10.3 frost days, closely followed by February at 9.5. December averages 8.0. April still brings an average of 2.4 frost days — a late frost risk that matters for fruit trees and early planting. May is nearly frost-free with just 0.3 average frost days, and from June through September, the station has never recorded a single frost day in the entire study period.
Agricultural planning needs year-by-year reality, not just averages. The table below shows, for each year of the record, how many frost days occurred and what the coldest minimum temperature was. The range is remarkable: from 79 frost days in 1979 down to 4 in 2002.
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Frost days | Coldest minimum (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 65 | -10.8 |
| 1990 | 28 | -3.5 |
| 2002 | 4 | -3.0 |
| 2011 | 23 | -4.3 |
| 2014 | 13 | -2.8 |
| 2015 | 24 | -4.2 |
| 2020 | 19 | -2.5 |
These winters brought the deepest cold, measured by the lowest minimum of each year:
| Year | Coldest minimum (°C) | Frost days that year |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | -10.8 | 65 |
| 1986 | -10.5 | 65 |
| 1981 | -10.0 | 65 |
| 1979 | -9.9 | 79 |
| 1991 | -9.4 | 35 |
At the other extreme, these years never got very cold — note how mild the minima are:
| Year | Coldest minimum (°C) | Frost days that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | -2.5 | 19 |
| 2014 | -2.8 | 13 |
| 2002 | -3.0 | 4 |
| 1990 | -3.5 | 28 |
| 2015 | -4.2 | 24 |
What stands out is the variability. A farmer near London planning around averages would face years with 4 frost days and years with 79. The record frost-heavy winter of 1979 and the deep cold of January 1987 (down to -10.8°C) show that severe winters still occur in this region, even as recent decades have tended toward milder minima.
For gardens and smallholdings, the practical takeaway from the monthly table is this: the frost season runs roughly from November through April, with May a marginal risk (0.3 average frost days). October can occasionally bring a frost (0.5 average), and June through September are, in this record, entirely frost-free.
Source: Met Office MIDAS data (Open Government Licence v3.0), held at CEDA. Station: high-beach, essex. Period: 1978-2025.
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© 2026 HistoClima · data: Met Office (OGL v3.0) · not affiliated with Met Office · citation permitted with source.