Godzilla El Niño to smash Brits with polar vortex of snow and storms in dire warning
The Met Office has issued an update on the polar vortex that could cause chaos in London and across the UK this winter.
Bad weather is set to hit the UK(Image: Getty Images)
Unprecedented levels of cold, snow and blizzard could be on the way as part of a new El Nino as the Met Office warn it could be the “largest” weather event in “living memory”. The Met Office has issued an update on the polar vortex that could cause chaos in London and across the UK this winter.
The unprecedented “Godzilla” El Niño event is set to hit Britain this winter, off the back of a record setting hot summer.
The incoming El Niño, a natural climate pattern characterised by the warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, could be one of the worst on record, according to experts. It is likely to cause wetter and stormier conditions across northwest Europe, including the UK.
Atmospheric waves are triggering a weather storm(Image: Getty Images)
Forecasters say the atmospheric waves triggered by El Niño can destabilise the polar vortex, which is likely further increasing the likelihood of heavy snowfall, experts have now warned.
Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasting, at the Met Office said: “I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts. A typical El Niño leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between 1 and 2 degrees, with 2°C being a really big event.
El Nino is said to look strong on forecasts(Image: Getty Images)
“This implies that if the forecast is accurate – and other forecast systems show similar extreme values – then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences. We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event.”
Weather experts have warned that it is twice as likely that October to December will be wetter than normal, with high winds also expected.
Wintry weather could be here sooner than we think(Image: Getty Images)
El Niño is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that develops in the Pacific Ocean when sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific become significantly warmer than average, altering atmospheric circulation patterns and impacting weather conditions across the globe.
Dr Will Lang, chief forecaster at the Met Office, described it as a “subtle shift in the odds” rather than a definitive prediction of wetter, milder and windier conditions.
Snow could be coming(Image: Getty Images)
A Met Office spokesperson added: “Through the latter part of the winter, following a peak in El Niño, the stratospheric Polar Vortex can become weaker, leading to an increased chance of Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) events unfurling, increasing the potential for cold weather.”
