Winter set to be colder than last year

28 September 2007

The UK is set for a much colder winter than last year, according to the Met Office.

A forecast produced by the government's meteorologists shows that the mean temperature for the season is likely to be above the winter average of 3.7 degrees Celsius.

Rob Varley, director of government business at the Met Office, explained that the majority of winters in the past ten years have been mild and that last year's was the second warmest on record, with a mean temperature of 5.5 degrees Celsius.

"Although the Met Office has predicted the likelihood of another mild winter we expect it to be noticeably colder than last year," he added.

The Met Office also predicted the coming winter will see slightly below average rainfall and that it will be much drier than last year's exceptionally wet winter.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in the UK was minus 26.1 degrees Celsius at Newport in Shropshire on the 10th January 1982.