Frozen to the spot

It’s turning into a bitterly cold winter across much of the UK. For three straight days Garry and I have woken to heavy frosts and icy pavements, making the daily commute to work mind numbingly cold and ever so slightly hazardous. According to the Met Office we're enduring the nation’s longest cold snap for almost three decades. Britain was last this cold, for this long, in 1981. Sadly, the current spate of frigid temperatures is forecast to continue for least another two weeks.

Since Sunday I’ve been wrapped myself in sweaters and a duvet every evening in almost futile attempt to counter the penetrating cold. Our efforts to raise the ambient indoor temperature have become increasingly dramatic. We've started running the central heating all night rather than running it on a timer. We even left it on all day while at work. This seems to have finally a made a difference as the duvet been case aside for the first time tonight.

It seems thousands of households are pursuing a similar strategy nationwide. Yesterday authorities urged electricity suppliers to switch temporarily from gas to other fuels such as coal as heating demands skyrocketed. The measure, known as a gas balancing alert, has only been used once before, in March 2006. More alerts are likely to follow as local temperatures are forecast to fall to -2 °C tonight , dropping to -4 °C tomorrow night.


Furthermore, the Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for London as foul weather sweeping across Scotland and Northern England makes it way South. Up to 40cms of snow is forecast to fall in neighbouring counties overnight, at least 10cms along the Brighton coast and here at Swiss Cottage, we’ve been told to expect no less than 5cms, with a chance of up 10cms accumulating over 24 hours. You can see the initial falls starting to accumulate at11pm in the photo above. With all this snow on the way, as happened last February, we’re being warned to expect serious transport chaos with train delays and cancellations.

The chaos has already disrupted life up North. Hundreds of schools shut today, flights were cancelled at Manchester and other airports and scores of accidents reported on icy roads. As of 6pm this evening more than 15cms of snow had fallen in Manchester and parts of Wales. On lighter note, filming at the Manchester studios of Coronation Street, a popular TV soap opera, was suspended after cast and crew were kept away by the snow.

The Times reports that Britain’s cold snap is part of a global phenomenon sweeping the North Hemisphere. Record low temperatures were reported in six European countries last month, record snowfalls have been reports in North America and China is reporting the heaviest falls for at least half century. Scientists are telling us these extreme weather fluctuations are just another example of global warming’s growing impact. Look for cute snowman photos tomorrow!