Scientists warn of ‘unusually harsh winter’
ARCTIC winds will sweep down from the North across Britain this weekend amid warnings from scientists last night that we are in for an unusually harsh winter.
Temperatures could fall to minus 9C (15.8F) in parts tomorrow, bringing the coldest night of autumn so far. Widespread frosts are expected on Monday morning with the chance of snow in the North.
It comes as climate scientists confirmed that the weather phenomenon known as La Nina – a vast area of colder than usual surface water – is likely to become established in the eastern Pacific.
The phenomenon, which follows an El Nino warming pattern, is associated with colder winters in the UK.
The last La Nina hit at the end of 2010 at the same time as a big freeze in Britain brought swathes of the country to a standstill.
Met Office forecaster Emma Sharples said: “Sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific have now fallen close to La Nina thresholds.
“Long-range prediction systems indicate this cooling is very likely to continue in the coming weeks, leading to a full La Nina event over the next few months.
“La Nina slightly increases the chance of blocking patterns over the North Atlantic and Europe in late autumn and early winter, leading to increased chances of colder than average conditions.” She added: “Temperatures on Sunday night could dip to between minus 3C and minus 5C in rural areas with the chance of minus 9C in some parts and the cold weather will last until mid-week before temperatures start to recover.
“We expect snow over high ground in the North on Sunday night and there could be wintry showers to lower levels.”
John Hammond, of online service weathertrending, said: “Winter doesn’t officially begin until December but the meteorological models are increasingly showing it will arrive early.”