How Cold Does it Get?

[kirabolton]

I am planning to go to England, Ireland, France and Italy in November/December 2005. I don't want to bring too much luggage and i was wondering how cold it really does get. Like, should i just bring one really warm jacket and a few jumpers? And how many pairs of pants would i need at a minimum? Also shoes, i have never seen snow before, oh will it be snowing? I think it's likely i'll probably be skidding around with a giant backpack half the time...

[MuvverRussia]

UK and Ireland in December will be between +5 and -5 centigrade (or so). France will be about the same in the North (maybe a little warmer), but quite a bit warmer in the South. Italy will be warmer again, possibly as high as the low 20s centigrade in the south. All I can say to that is bring layers.

As for snow, I doubt you'll see any significant amount of snow fall (e.g. you may see 1 snow shower if you're lucky, even so it won't settle on the ground). You'll probably see a bit of ice though, which is always interesting. Even so a pair of normal shoes will be fine.

[uktrail]

For England you need not plan for very cold, and it could be pretty mild at times (10-12C), but be prepared for two of our more unpleasant types of weather: 4C with a strong penetrating wind and showers with the rain coming horizontally; and on another day, 2C with no wind and a miserable fog, with day merging into night at 4pm.

Ireland will be milder but often windy with frequent rain.

I would normally say a medium coat or a foam-filled anorak would be desirable, but since you have to carry everything I suggest a loose-fitting windproof jacket and a light raincoat, or a medium-weight fairly waterproof coat, in either case with several jumpers so you can wear as many as you need on a given day. A warm jogging top could take the place of the coat, with a loose-fitting raincoat available to put on top.

[LHR02]

I assume everyone knows this.....but just in case...when Peter says 'jumpers' he means sweaters...not dress/jumpers as in the US. ;D

[kirabolton]

Ah ok. Thanks for your help. I wasn't sure if i should bring a huge coat because i live in Sydney where the coldest it gets is about 12 degree Celcius. The whole temperature things sort of served to confuse me, because i only really know celcius...

So it doesn't snow? sniff sniff...oh well, i would have probably just fallen over anyway. The friend i am going with is quite small, i can just imagine her with a huge backpacking slipping and sliding everywhere...hahaha...it's be funny though.

[MuvverRussia]

kirabolton said:

Ah ok. Thanks for your help. I wasn't sure if i should bring a huge coat because i live in Sydney where the coldest it gets is about 12 degree Celcius. The whole temperature things sort of served to confuse me, because i only really know celcius...

If I were you I'd consider one. Whilst 12 C is achievable (rarely) in November, there's no way it'll be that warm in December. Also the UK uses metric now, so all weather is in Celcius etc (other than miles/yards for distance whilst driving), although some people are still stuck in the dark ages (mainly older people).

[Kira not logging in]

12 Degrees is WARM? OMG that is freezing here...argh...i will freeze to death

[MuvverRussia]

For December 12 C would be exceptionally warm. At the moment here it's about 16C (max daytime) and we're not even into October yet.

[kirabolton]

Whhhaaaaaat? Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I am going to freeze. Ahaha! that just makes it even better! awww but i'm getting cold just thinking about it. By the way, if it does snow does it make walking down the street slippery? that's a real worry for me actually.

[MuvverRussia]

In all probability snow won't be a problem. However, if it were to snow then it wouldn't be too slippery either- it probably wouldn't settile.

When it's really cold though snow can freeze into thick ice- then it's really slippy, although I've never had a problem with this in the UK. Also snow in December is actually fairly uncommon- we get more snow in late January or early February.

[uktrail]

Ging, the word I normally use for sweaters is 'pullovers'. I used jumper here simply because the questioner did. Anyway, bring some woolies.

Muvver, it does get above 10C surprisingly often in December. I keep records, and here in the Midlands it exceeded 10C on 5 days last December, and on 20 days last November. It reached 12.9C on Dec 12, and 11.3C on Christmas Day.

In a pedantic mood today.

[MuvverRussia]

That's a daytime high, so it's not particularly accurate for a comparison. Even so, it's still warm for December (5 days is nowhere near enough to class it as a mean, it would be like saying that the weather in July is over 28 degrees)- I can remember some pretty damn cold days last year here, certainly nowhere near +10c, although it's not as though I keep a record of the temperature or anything.

Which part of the midlands are you from anyway (my brother lives in Coventry)- I live in Greenwich, SE London btw.

[uktrail]

I thought we were talking about daytime highs, and what is 'achievable'. Indeed last December did not have a mean daytime high above 10C, but a visitor would certainly have experienced it on some days (and in Nov, a lot of days). For the record, the lowest daytime high was 1.4C in Dec and 3.3C in Nov, which I agree is 'pretty damn cold'

I live in Shropshire, near Newport.

[Susanne]

I would suggest a goretex jacket, or something like it, that's both water and windproof. And then, as been pointed out, use layers underneath.

As they've ala said here before me, snow will most likely not fall, but perhaps you'll get lucky! Anyway, if so, a goretex jacket will do the trick!

/Susanne

[WillTravel]

Everyone seems to wear Goretex here in BC and it is great for rain, cold, etc. But those jackets are so expensive for so little style (my humble opinion as I'm definitely not in the fashionable set) that I've never gotten one. I'm thinking of biting the bullet and getting one anyway, though.