Big Freeze Is On Way, Say Experts
SARAH BLOCH
31 December 2007
http://news.scotsman.com/weather/Big-freeze-is-on-.3631582.jp
WEATHER forecasters are predicting chaos on the roads as Britain returns
to work next week – with warnings of ice, sleet and freezing
temperatures.
Piers Corbyn, from the long-range forecasters Weather- Action, said:
"The winds from Siberia are going to make it extremely cold – like the
conditions we experienced in January 1987, when it was -12C (10.4F) in
the south.
"The average temperature for January as a whole will be close to
freezing – around 0.8C (33.4F) at best."
He added that temperatures could plummet to -17C (1.4F) in the Midlands.
However, Stephen Daven****t, senior meteorologist at the Press
Association's Meteo-Group, said: "Apocalyptic predictions verging on
prophecies of a new ice age need to be put into perspective.
"There is no doubt at all that it will feel bitterly cold, especially on
Thursday and particularly in the eastern half of Britain. Strong, raw
winds from the east will bring a significant wind chill and showers of
sleet and snow.
"In the middle of winter such conditions are hardly unknown, though, and
in fact could be far, far worse.
"By the weekend, this brief freeze will have disappeared, as milder and
occasionally wet and windy weather blasts in from the west."
However, Mr Corbyn countered that he had successfully predicted the
major weather events of 2007.
He said: "The Met Office forecast a hot summer that wouldn't be
particularly wet, and look what we got.
"We forecast an extremely wet summer as well as the floods in October –
so I'm convinced we will be right again."
--
Warmest Regards
Bonzo
"How does a small increase in a very small component [of CO2] have such
a large apparent effect [On Climate]? The truth is that no one has yet
shown that it does." Don Aitkin
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