THE TELEGRAPH: The UK's official weather forecasters are determined that winters should be mild, in the face of the frozen facts, says Christopher Booker
Shortly after midnight on Friday morning, as 200,000 merrymakers were departing from the Thames after enjoying a spectacular fireworks show in sub-zero temperatures, flakes of snow began to fall on Whitehall. In light of the Met Office's prediction that this would be a "mild" winter, with temperatures above average, it seemed an apt way to start the New Year. But hasn't the time come for us to stop treating the serial inaccuracy of Met Office forecasts as just a joke and see it for what it is – a national scandal?
The reason the Met Office so persistently gets its seasonal forecasts wrong is that it has been hi-jacked from the role for which we pay it nearly £200 million a year, to become one of the world's major propaganda engines for the belief in man-made global warming. Over the past three years, it has become a laughing stock for forecasts which are invariably wrong in the same direction.
The year 2007, it predicted, would be "the warmest ever" – just before global tempratures plunged by more than the entire net warming of the 20th century, Three years running it predicted warmer than average winters – as large parts of the northern hemisphere endured record cold and snowfalls. Last year's "barbecue summer" was the third time running that predictions of a summer drier and warmer than average prefaced weeks of rain and cold. Last week the Met Office was again predicting that 2010 will be the "warmest year" on record, while Europe and the US look to be facing further weeks of intense cold. >>> Christopher Booker | Saturday, January 02, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Cold snap in Britain will continue 'for next 10 days' >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Snow paralyses Beijing as China braces for deep freeze: Snow storms paralysed Beijing on Sunday, leaving hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled, keeping schools closed, and bringing forecasts of some of the lowest temperatures in decades. >>> | Sunday, January 03, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: Transport paralysed in Asia's worst winter in 60 years >>> Richard Lloyd Parry | Monday, January 04, 2010
Watch BBC video: Severe winter weather over Europe >>> | Tuesday, January 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain braced for heaviest snowfall in 50-years: The heaviest snowfall in almost 50 years is hitting parts of Britain as Arctic weather brought nationwide chaos. >>> Martin Evans | Tuesday, January 05, 2010
