HARD WINTER
LONDON (Reuters) - Get out your woollies - forecasters who accurately predicted a wet summer say it's going to be extra chilly in Britain this winter.
Metcheck.com, which gives long range seasonal forecasts, said it predicted an end to the recent mild winters, with cold snaps and snowfall on the way. "Metcheck.com is now advising the UK to ditch the wellies for woollies as computer models now indicate the UK can expect a colder than average winter this year," the agency's senior forecaster Andrew Bond said.
November should see average temperatures but December and January will be colder than usual with more snowfall than in the last few years. But Bond said it was unlikely there would be a repeat of the UK's famously bleak winters of 1947 or 1963 which almost brought the country to a standstill.
However, he said the first blast of icy weather could begin as early as next week. Britain's Meteorological Office said long-range forecasts were experimental and it was difficult to give accurate predictions so far in advance: "We think it will be colder than average in Christmas week but you can't give an accurate view until three or four weeks beforehand."
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Hmm, but every bleedin' year there are reports of an especially cold/mild winter, wet/hot summer, etc. One thing though: if there's anything in the folklore-ish wisdom that says berries in Autumn signify an especially cold winter, then perhaps it really will be freezing in December and January. Berries are everywhere at the moment. Why this should portend a cold winter I'm not sure. Perhaps it is to do with providing nourishment for birds?
LONDON (Reuters) - Get out your woollies - forecasters who accurately predicted a wet summer say it's going to be extra chilly in Britain this winter.
Metcheck.com, which gives long range seasonal forecasts, said it predicted an end to the recent mild winters, with cold snaps and snowfall on the way. "Metcheck.com is now advising the UK to ditch the wellies for woollies as computer models now indicate the UK can expect a colder than average winter this year," the agency's senior forecaster Andrew Bond said.
November should see average temperatures but December and January will be colder than usual with more snowfall than in the last few years. But Bond said it was unlikely there would be a repeat of the UK's famously bleak winters of 1947 or 1963 which almost brought the country to a standstill.
However, he said the first blast of icy weather could begin as early as next week. Britain's Meteorological Office said long-range forecasts were experimental and it was difficult to give accurate predictions so far in advance: "We think it will be colder than average in Christmas week but you can't give an accurate view until three or four weeks beforehand."
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Hmm, but every bleedin' year there are reports of an especially cold/mild winter, wet/hot summer, etc. One thing though: if there's anything in the folklore-ish wisdom that says berries in Autumn signify an especially cold winter, then perhaps it really will be freezing in December and January. Berries are everywhere at the moment. Why this should portend a cold winter I'm not sure. Perhaps it is to do with providing nourishment for birds?
