This winter could become unseasonably cold, snowy or windy thanks to Arctic winds drifting further south towards the UK.

Met Office forecasters say that the weakening of the polar vortex associated with El Niño could cause cold north and north-easterly winds to dominate the UK’s climate this winter.

‘A highly unusual disruption of the stratospheric polar vortex is now underway. If it becomes a major Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW), it will be the earliest such event on record,’ The Met Office warned.

If the current polar vortex becomes stronger, it means the chances of cold weather and heavy snow in the UK increase drastically.

This year’s El Niño system may also allow colder air to drift southwards into Europe and North America, potentially bringing blizzard conditions with heavy snow.

The effect also ‘heightens the potential’ for wet weather, stormy conditions and therefore flooding.

It’s not clear when this could happen, but for now, the long-range forecast from the Met reads: ‘We may start to see some colder conditions spread from the north. While the nature of this colder outbreak is very uncertain, it could bring some wintry showers to the northern UK briefly.’

A polar vortex is a ‘large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles’ that ‘ALWAYS exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter’, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In Early October, Londoners were warned to prepare for potentially severe weather, such as by keeping emergency food supplies for up to three days.

‘The El Niño event is still developing in the tropical Pacific and already it has surpassed the magnitude of previous events including the one in 2015/16’, Met Office climate spokesperson Grahame Madge said.

‘Globally, an El Niño event has several impacts, including altering rainfall patterns and increasing global temperature overall.’

More broadly, the El Niño event could cause more than 450,000 heat deaths between June 2026 and February 2027, a concerning report has suggested.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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