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It’s been a cold week for Shropshire - starting wintry for many parts and with Storm Goretti bringing further snow as we head into the weekend.

 

 

 

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 But while 2026 may have seen the SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ campus blanketed in snow, the temperatures are nothing compared to the same week 44 years ago.

On January 10, 1982, our on-site weather station recorded England’s lowest-ever temperature – a seriously chilly -26.1 degrees Celsius.

The temperature made the Guiness Book of Records and still stands as the lowest to be marked in the country, more than four decades later.

It has been the subject of a series of and documentaries over the years – and, in 2010, was featured on the Wild Weather television programme. Among the people the programme makers spoke to was Bill Burrell, who worked at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany’s (NIAB) Edgmond site at the time.

Mr Burrell was responsible for checking the University’s weather station and reporting its findings to the Met Office – a job done manually throughout the history of the Harper Adams site until the station was automated in 2010.

In a news piece for the Harper Adams website when the BBC programme screened, Mr Burrell recalled the record-breaking day.

He said: “Records show that people have been recording the temperature at Harper Adams since 1903 and it just happens to be one of the responsibilities of NIAB.

“I knew it was cold that day, but it came as quite a shock when I saw it was -26.1 degrees Celsius - I had frost on my eyelashes!

 “We quite regularly see cold temperatures here in Edgmond because of our location – it’s rural and quite exposed but Harper Adams is in a frost hollow. This is where the coldest air sinks.

 “It was nice to be featured in the programme and to see some of the archive footage that they had found from back then.”

Professor of Crop Physiology Peter Kettlewell spoke to Mr Burrell on the day that he recorded the temperature – and also recalls it being remarkably cold.

He added: “Because it was so cold, the moisture particles froze in the air and caused rainbows as the sun shone through. I’ve never known this happen before or since.

“Damage to the crops wasn’t that bad because the snow provided insulation on the ground so although it was incredibly cold, damage was limited.”