Confidence ‘excessive’ for ‘all of UK’ to see ‘heavy snow over a number of days’

A number one climate forecaster says “confidence is high” for Britain to quickly be buried by heavy snow throughout the board.

Forecasts and climate maps have been suggesting for a while that this month might convey a protracted spell of chilly and wintry situations.

This is as a result of there are indications that sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) might happen which, regardless of its identify, can result in widespread snow and temperatures plummeting. It is what brought on 2018’s ‘Beast from the East’.

READ MORE: UK climate maps present most of nation buried beneath snow in matter of days

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Exacta Weather forecaster James Madden stated in an replace right now (Wednesday, January 3) “widespread and heavy snow showers across large parts of the country” will be anticipated “later next week onwards” – including “confidence is HIGH on this occurring”.

Madden added: “This will see most and if not all parts of the country getting dragged into an extended snowy regime over at least a several day period, and literally anywhere will be at a much significantly higher risk of seeing some heavy and settling snow within this particular period (from parts of the far north to the far south of country, and especially down the eastern flank of the country from Scotland to southern England too).”

Advanced climate modelling maps from WX Charts appear to assist Madden’s forecast. They present snow sweeping down the nation from January 14 onwards, with flurries then persevering with.

Snow depth charts for the times following January 14 present nearly the complete nation buried in some snow. For January 18, WX Charts’ maps present as a lot as 19cm in Scotland and 11cm within the north-east of England. The white stuff is predicted as far south as Devon and Cornwall.

The Met Office warns of “an increasing chance of some wintry showers” in its forecast main as much as January 17, with situations “likely to remain cold”. The forecast for January 18 and February 1 states: “Compared to normal, there is an increased chance of colder than average conditions during this period. Currently the chance of widespread severe cold is still deemed low, but still the risk of impacts from cold, including ice and snow is greater than normal. It is likely to be drier than recent weeks, but what does fall is more likely to be of a wintry nature.”

Madden – who spoke of this month’s chilly and snowy blast as early as September – additionally reckons extra wintry situations might comply with, doubtlessly lasting till April. He stated: “These changes are also significant and potentially now line us up for several major cold and snowy spells between now and the start of April.

“It can also be true that some non permanent much less colder or milder incursions may also happen inside this era of January – April this yr, however the primary point of interest needs to be on the variety of main chilly durations and widespread snow occasions that we’ll be dealing with between every now and then.”

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