With weather phenomenon El Niño expected to peak around December, forecasters looking at long-range data are predicting Britain is likely to have plenty of snowfall this winter.

Previous El Niño winters for the UK normally mean much colder weather is on its way, but also drier, with some fairly severe cold spells also expected. Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the UK’s Met Office told EuroNews: “El Niño years have a tendency to have a mild wet and westerly start to winter (November to December) and a colder, drier end to winter (January to March) across most of northern Europe.”
The UK can expect snow this winter (
Image:
Getty Images)

He added: "It's important to note that this is the average across many El Niño cases and isn’t strong enough to determine the outcome for certain. Instead, El Niño just shifts the probability in favour of these outcomes.”

And skiing website OnTheSnow says the forecast for this winter is "looking very promising for skiers!", while researchers at the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at Leeds University, explained that: "During El Niño winters... the largest effect is observed in northern Europe... where winters become drier and colder. A frosty 2023-24 winter season is likely if El Niño ramps up sufficiently by then."
There is expected to be a blanket of snow in many parts of the UK in December (
Image:
Getty Images)

The Met Office said that for snow to fall, there must be cold air and plenty of moisture. That cold air requires winds from the north or east. If those conditions are met, that wind needs to encounter a rain-bearing weather front, or for the cold air to pick up enough moisture as it comes in across the North Sea to form showers.

The likelihood of snow in the UK can also be affected by the behaviour of the jet stream, a large and powerful body of air that circulates at an altitude of between five and seven miles in the atmosphere. It flows west to east around the northern hemisphere, and along with pressure systems, shapes surface weather.

And with El Niño, its biggest impact is during the northern hemisphere winter. So if the experts have got it right, there's going to be a white December, if not a white Christmas.