Ulster experiences coldest Boxing Day in 24 years
THE coldest Boxing Day Northern Ireland had experienced since the RAF began to keep records at Aldergrove Meterological Station in 1926 was recorded in 1950, reported the News Letter.
The lowest temperature of the day was "21.11 degrees of frost", which was recorded at 8am. The previous lowest figure recorded at Aldergrove on Boxing Day was 26 in 1940.
In some districts in the Province roads were treacherous during the day, and fog in low-lying areas, including Belfast, further aggravated driving conditions. Traffic, however, was not interrupted; the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) reported only slight delays on some routes.
The temperature on the night of Boxing Day rose to a figure at Aldergrove at 11pmof 33.8 degrees. It was expected, however, that the temperature would fall to about 23 early in the morning. The paper remarked: "There is the probability that the roads will remain in a treacherous condition."
A motorist who travelled from Portrush to Belfast on Boxing Day told a News Letter reporter that the journey had taken him two and half hours. Ice had made the roads dangerous and at some places cars had to go "at a crawl". The motorist said that at the approaches to Coleraine and Ballymoney many motorists had bad skids. While at Antrim the frost strictly enforced the 20mph speed limit.
There were also several other accidents across Northern Ireland due to the freezing temperatures, reported the News Letter. When Constable Eric Shaw of Donemana was motoring in Londonderry on Boxing Day morning his car had skidded at the Waterside end of or Craigavon Bridge and struck a pillar. He had been thrown out of the car when the accident happened. The car was left badly damaged but Constable Shaw escaped with just lacerations to his forehead for which he was treated in hospital. Meanwhile, David Barnett of Bready, Strabane, had his shoulder dislocated when he fell off his bicycle at Artigarvan on the afternoon of Boxing Day.
In Belfast a car driven by Mr James McClelland of the Upper Newtownards Road in the city collided with a UTA double-decker bus Quarry Corner on the main Belfast to Newtownards road. The News Letter reported: "Mrs McClelland who was a passenger in the car received head and leg injuries."
Meanwhile, the "keen frost" had caused the postponement of several sporting fixtures across the Province.
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Weather for Belfast
Wednesday 15 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South west
