As the clock change looms, and or Sun slowly goes to sleep, winter 2017-18 is shaping up and WeatherAction’s Piers Corbyn has given a taster of his initial winter thoughts reproduced below.
2013 was the last time much of the UK received substantial snow cover.
Piers Corbyn, forecaster for WeatherAction, said the jet stream is showing signs of diving southwards allowing the polar vortex – a pool of freezing air over the Arctic – to sink across northern Europe.
He said winter is about to set in early with freezing conditions and even snow possible any time now.
He said: “We are expecting an early taste of winter this years, it is already starting to feel colder and we could see snow by the end of the month.
“This could affect large parts of the UK between now and Christmas, this is all part of an new era which we believe is going to lead to a mini ice age.
“The jet stream is behaving erratically and showing signs of diving southwards over the next few weeks allowing the Polar vortex to sink over Britain.
“Parts of this winter are shaping up to be particularly harsh.
“We can’t expect Britain, yet again, to dodge the cold blasts which over the past few years have only hit America.”
Bookies have already started slashing odds on snowfall over the next couple of months with the coldest winter on record now 4-1 from 81.
Ladbrokes is offering 1-3 on snow next month with 5-1 on Britain finally getting a white Christmas this year.
Spokeswoman Jessica Bridge said: “All bets are off when it comes to 2017 being the year of the snowstorm.
“The temperatures are beginning to drop, and the odds are following suit that winter’s going to be Arctic.”
UK faces MONTHS of SNOW: Sinking polar vortex to trigger COLDEST winter since GREAT FREEZE
To get the full winter forecast for the British Isles and/or Europe all the way through to February and details of where and when any cold blasts will come, you’ll need to subscribe.
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Piers Corbyn got this generally wrong.It was a mild VERY WET winter until very late on in the UK.Then a High built over southern Sweden in late Feb 2018 bringing bitter easterlies…….the “beast from the east” in March 2018. So severe weather came VERY late in the winter of 2017-18 after one of the wettest for years.
Since then a High over the UK in May 2018 has brought very calm,warm,sunny weather.
It always AVERAGES OUT over time.
Wind turbines in the UK produced VERY LITTLE electricity in the light winds of May 2018…….a glorious month to make up for that wet winter and very cold March !
I have been keeping my own weather records for a while and have been making other weather observations for even longer and it seems to be that the weather (although hotter for small periods of time in the summer) seems to be getting cooler for longer.
In 1997, the Labour Party won the General Election on May the 1st with a landslide victory (and depending on how you look at it) they brought bad weather with them, or ended the drought, as by Saturday it started raining and on Sunday it peed it down and we had one of the worse summers for quite a while, although 2003 proved to be a very hot year with wild fires all over Europe.
Since 2003, the weather has more or less remained the same with the exception of 2010, when there was exceptionally cold weather. But from 2015/16, the weather has had a tendency to be cooler for longer periods, although as I mentioned earlier, the hot weather seems to have been peaking to record levels for short periods in summer.
Who would have thought that the Labour Party not only brought the cooler weather, but the brother of the now Labour leader had predicted it! Sounds like a conspiracy to me.
Some snow for Midlands and north west, a week or so ago, even some in London. But now reverted to type and mild or very mild weather on the way.This looks likely for at least next tend days or more? Mini ice age? More like the norm for UK, but who knows, just maybe snow in January? The Easterly QBO does not so far seem to have affected wind directions, the NAO remains positive. After four mild winters, will this change things, or be a fifth?
BBC 30th Nov.: Snow falls on England’s east coast beaches
Parts of eastern England have been blanketed in a layer of snow as forecasters warned of possible disruption and plunging temperatures.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-42181673
Not the depth hoped but Piers did get the cold surge right. Watch you’re the high west of Ireland moves. Think this could be a memorable winter for ‘events’ rather than a locked in spell…feel that’ll come into 2020s 😊
And of course cheers OB. Snow flurries in London earlier according to Liam Dutton
If you want to continue to have credibility you do not include any headlines from the sensationalist rag known as the “Daily Express” – every year they run the story of the worst winter in 20/30 years etc.
Thanks for the comment Peter. I only put the headline at the base of the article as a link. Every year they quote James Madden’s worst winter since, that’s why the post and title focuses on what Piers says as they usually quote him correctly. The headline writers take the most sensational parts no matter who said what. Anyway if they keep the headlines up they are sure to be right – as a stopped clock can be right 😂
Brazil, 25/10/2017
A storm with hailstones hit the municipality of Franca, in the region of Ribeirão Preto, in the interior of São Paulo, late Tuesday afternoon. Residents shared photos of streets covered in white. The rainstorm lasted a few minutes and was enough to accumulate the ice in several regions of the city and points of neighboring counties. There was no record of damages or injuries due to the fall of hail, according to the Civil Defense.
https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/agencia-estado/2017/10/25/temporal-de-granizo-deixa-paisagem-branca-em-franca.htm