With the strongest El Niño weather pattern since 1950 predicted, the United Kingdom could be in for an extremely cold and snowy winter, meteorologists there are saying.
Conditions could match the winter of 2009-2010, the say, a season so cold and long-lasting it has been dubbed "The Big Freeze."
During that winter heavy snowfall, up to 19 inches in some areas, threw the country's transport system into chaos, closing airports and requiring train service to be suspended.
An average temperature across the country of 30 degrees Fahrenheit was the coldest ever recorded since record-keeping began, the U.K. Met Office says.
Forecasters are predicting the strongest El Niño since 1950, which was also one of the snowiest years on record for the U.K.
In an El Niño event, warming areas of ocean water in the central and east-central equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean release vast amounts of heat into the atmosphere, causing changes in weather patterns around the world.
One of those effects sees the polar jet streams move further south, increasing snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere's winter.
"This time round El Niño could be the strongest in decades," says Met Office meteorologist Thomas Shafernaker.
"In Europe sometimes winters end up much colder and drier and last much into spring" with a strong El Niño, he explains. "In 2010, the El Niño played a part in bringing huge amounts of snow to the U.K."
The developing El Niño – the phenomenon occurs around every 2 to 7 years – will likely bring drought to Australia and Asia while the west coasts of North and South America could see huge increases in rainfall over the next few months as the weather pattern peaks between October and January, forecasters say.
