The UK could be covered in blankets of snow because of an El Niño weather pattern, weather experts have said.
Brits can expect frosty weather and plummeting temperatures this December.
Experts predict the UK could have a white Christmas.
An El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of the waters in the Pacific Ocean, which leads to uncertain weather changes.
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Professor Adam Scaife from the Met Office said: “El Niño years have a tendency to have a mild wet and westerly start to winter (November to December) and a colder, drier end to winter (January to March) across most of northern Europe.”
A major El Niño event usually occurs every three to seven years and can last for months on end.
During El Nino winters, northern Europe can be colder and drier, with southern Europe getting more rain as the jet stream shifts course.
Meteorologist Jim Dale previously told the Express: “It brings out unprecedented unusual events. This does not mean every event will be cataclysmic. It could be unusually quiet.”
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“During El Niño winters the largest effect is observed in northern Europe… where winters become drier and colder. A frosty 2023-24 winter season is likely if El Niño ramps up sufficiently by then.”
The Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at Leeds University, said that: “During El Niño winters the largest effect is observed in northern Europe… where winters become drier and colder.
A frosty 2023-24 winter season is likely if El Niño ramps up sufficiently by then.”
The UK missed out on a white Christmas last year.
The UK saw heavy snowfall most recently in March
PA
2021 was technically the last white Christmas in the UK with six per cent of stations recording snow falling.
However, just one per cent of stations reported any snow lying on the ground.
The last widespread white Christmas was in 2010.
The Met Office defines a white Christmas by a single snowflake to fall on December 25 somewhere in the UK.
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