The Met Office has dismissed dramatic headlines claiming that Britain faces “plunging temperatures” and a “Wall of rain and snow,” calling the predictions exaggerated.
The forecasters took aim at recent reports claiming freezing conditions and a “551-mile wall of rain and snow” were about to hit the UK.
Experts claimed that there’s no indication of widespread snow in the coming days and that any polar vortex disruption caused by El Niño would occur at the end of winter, not now.
This year’s El Niño is expected to be “unprecedented” and is likely to bring wetter, stormier conditions to the UK. However, the Met Office stressed that El Niño “does not determine individual weather events.”
The forecaster said: “This is a recognisably autumnal pattern rather than an exceptional cold spell,” adding that “dramatic nationwide snow and prolonged freezing conditions are not the central themes of the current forecast.”
The agency said temperatures this week will be average or slightly below, with widespread rain expected in England and Wales on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will return to near normal, while Saturday will be cool in places with blustery winds and scattered showers.
The Met Office said a polar vortex hitting the UK this autumn remains “just one possible outcome dependent on many competing factors.”
Forecasters warned that 2027 is very likely to become the warmest year on record due to heat released from the ocean during this El Niño.
