The Met Office’s confused climate change forecasts

Oh, do make your mind up. Is snow in Britain going to be eradicated for good due to climate change – or are we going to be plunged into arctic conditions as climate change breaks down North Atlantic currents and sets up blocking patterns which suck frost down from the North Pole for weeks on end?

If you have a preference for either of the above answers, the Met Office will be delighted to oblige. Today the Met Office is warning that climate change is going to do away with winter in Britain in any meaningful sense. According to Dr Lizzie Kendon, who works on climate projections for the organisation: ‘we are saying by the end of the century much of the lying snow will have disappeared entirely except over the highest ground.’ This, apparently, is a ‘wake-up call’ about climate change – although it is not entirely obvious why, aside from kids being deprived of an occasional day of fun in the snow, it signifies some grim future.