Updated: 2026-07-30
Over the nineteen years with complete records between 1985 and 2003, the Met Office station at Leeds-weather-centre recorded between 6 and 45 frost days each year. A frost day is any day when the minimum temperature drops below 0 °C. 1987 was the iciest year, with 45 frost days, while 1990 had just 6 frost days — the mildest of the series. The earliest data in the period is from 1 November 1985 and the latest is 11 August 2004, giving us a clean 19-year run of daily temperature records from the official MIDAS archive.
What does 45 frost days in a single year feel like? That was Leeds in 1987: nearly January and December both spent below freezing for weeks, plus sharp November nights. In contrast, 1990 was a famously mild winter across the UK, and the Leeds data bears that out with only 6 frost days. To put it in perspective, in 1987 you would have scraped ice off the car windscreen more than seven times as often as in 1990.
45 frost days in 1987 — the most in any year of the series. The year also had a mean minimum temperature of just 6.3 °C, the third lowest of the period. 6 frost days in 1990 was the fewest, with a mean minimum of 7.7 °C, the joint highest of the series (tied with 1999, 2002 and 2003).
The table below shows the full annual series. A frost day is counted each time the daily minimum temperature fell below 0 °C. The mean minimum temperature is the average of all daily minimums for that year, included to show how the two measures relate.
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Frost days | Mean min temp (°C) |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 18 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 6 | 7.7 |
| 1997 | 17 | 7.5 |
| 1998 | 15 | 7.5 |
| 1999 | 21 | 7.7 |
| 2002 | 13 | 7.7 |
| 2003 | 22 | 7.8 |
Years with low frost counts tend to have a higher mean minimum temperature, but not always in lockstep. 1996, for instance, had 41 frost days — nearly as many as the record 45 in 1987 — yet its mean minimum of 6.3 °C was the same as 1987, because the cold spells were more concentrated. The five mildest years (1985 aside) all have a mean minimum of 7.7 °C or 7.8 °C, while the five coldest average 2.7 °C to 6.5 °C. The coldest year by far was 1985, with a mean minimum of just 2.7 °C — but that year had only 18 frost days, because a few very cold nights pulled the average down, while the frost period itself was relatively short.
Here is how the mean minimum temperature ranks across the series, using only the data from the Met Office official records for Leeds-weather-centre.
| Year | Mean min temp (°C) |
|---|---|
| 1985 | 2.7 |
| 1986 | 5.8 |
| 1987 | 6.3 |
| 1996 | 6.3 |
| 1993 | 6.5 |
| Year | Mean min temp (°C) |
|---|---|
| 2003 | 7.8 |
| 1990 | 7.7 |
| 1999 | 7.7 |
| 2002 | 7.7 |
| 1997 | 7.5 |
The data shows a clear pattern: the colder years (1985, 1986, 1987, 1996) produce both a lower mean minimum and, typically, a higher number of frost days — though 1985 is an exception where the mean was pulled down by extreme cold rather than sustained frost. The mildest years cluster in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with 2003 taking the highest mean minimum at 7.8 °C while still recording 22 frost days.
Source: Met Office MIDAS, Leeds-weather-centre station (ID 00523). Period 1985–2003 (daily data extends to 11 August 2004). Official data under Open Government Licence v3.0.
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