Editor

On 10 December, there was a Met Office prediction in the UK press, stating that “by the end of the century, the planet may be so warm that snow will fail to settle in most places. Analysis on BBC’s Panorama showed that the south of England could see no snowfall by 2040. By 2060, the Met Office said, settling snow could be limited to “only the upper reaches of Scotland”.

Well, here we are about a month later, and we have had snow and ice all over the UK for several days. It is freezing hard outside, as I write, on the normally mild coast of Cardigan Bay.

How on Earth can the Met Office make such long-term predictions?At 52 degrees north, and in the southern half of Britain, we are at the same latitude as Newfoundland in Canada and Siberia to the east. So, whenever the wind blows from the north or east in winter, we are likely to have snow and ice.

Unless the UK is somehow dragged bodily from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, I cannot see winters changing much,even if summers get warmer.

L J Jenkins Gwbert Cardigan

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