The unprecedented ‘Godzilla’ El Nino event has been predicted to strike the UK in the coming weeks and months after a record hot and dry summer
Heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures are set to batter Britain in the coming weeks, and now warnings have been issued to UK households to make sure they are prepared.
Experts have warned of the the incoming El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon characterised by the warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, which could be one of the worst on record with brutally cold temperatures and the possibility of heavy snowfall.
A research paper published by the US government’s NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory concluded that El Niño “tends to promote the breakdown of the polar vortex, especially in late winter”.
The polar vortex is a band of strong westerly winds that circles around the North Pole and traps bitterly cold air near the Arctic which are expected to to hit the UK meaning Brits will face very cold winds and freezing temperatures.
Now experts have warned Brits to take some measures to stay safe.
British Gas have recommended making sure you have gathered essential supplies, including at least three days’ worth of food and essentials stored in an easy-to-reach part of your home.
It says that emergency kit should include medicines, drinking water, non-perishable food and snacks, and extra blankets.
Other advice includes improving home insulation, protecting pipes against freezing, and checking your car’s brakes, heater, tyres and windscreen wipers to see they are in good working order.
It says “if you can keep your fuel tank half full during snowy conditions, all the better.”
It also advises checking in on elderly or vulnerable relatives and neighbours to make sure they’ve got everything they need to get through a cold snap.
The Met Office said: “The current El Niño is unprecedented in terms of its strength at present and various seasonal modelling centres predict further strengthening over the next couple of months, with a predicted peak in November of December.
“For the UK, El Niño increases the chances of a wetter and stormier late autumn and early winter period, which would also likely be milder than normal.
“Through the latter part of the winter, following a peak in El Niño, the stratospheric polar vortex (SPV) can become weaker, leading to an increased chance of Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) events unfurling, increasing the potential for cold weather. However, significant as El Niño is, it is important to emphasise that it alone does not determine precise weather patterns and other outcomes remain possible.”