WEATHER forecasters are predicting chaos on the roads as Britain returns to work next week – with warnings of ice, sleet and freezing temperatures.
Piers Corbyn, from the long-range forecasters Weather- Action, said: "The winds from Siberia are going to make it extremely cold – like the conditions we experienced in January 1987, when it was -12C (10.4F) in the south.
"The average temperat
ure for January as a whole will be close to freezing – around 0.8C (33.4F) at best."
He added that temperatures could plummet to -17C (1.4F) in the Midlands.
However, Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at the Press Association's Meteo-Group, said: "Apocalyptic predictions verging on prophecies of a new ice age need to be put into perspective.
"There is no doubt at all that it will feel bitterly cold, especially on Thursday and particularly in the eastern half of Britain. Strong, raw winds from the east will bring a significant wind chill and showers of sleet and snow.
"In the middle of winter such conditions are hardly unknown, though, and in fact could be far, far worse.
"By the weekend, this brief freeze will have disappeared, as milder and occasionally wet and windy weather blasts in from the west."
Other forecasters, including the Met Office, have also predicted a milder January, after a cold snap later this week.
However, Mr Corbyn countered that he had successfully predicted the major weather events of 2007.
He said: "The Met Office forecast a hot summer that wouldn't be particularly wet, and look what we got.
"We forecast an extremely wet summer as well as the floods in October – so I'm convinced we will be right again."
The full article contains 286 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
