The Met Office dismissed dramatic headlines claiming that Britain faces plunging temperatures and a wall of rain and snow, calling the predictions exaggerated. Experts claimed that there is no indication of widespread snow in the coming days and that any polar vortex disruption caused by El Niño would occur at the end of winter, not now.

This year's El Niño is expected to be unprecedented and is likely to bring wetter, stormier conditions to the UK, though the Met Office stressed it does not determine individual weather events. The forecaster said this is a recognisably autumnal pattern rather than an exceptional cold spell, adding that dramatic nationwide snow and prolonged freezing conditions are not the central themes of the current forecast.

The agency said temperatures this week will be average or slightly below, with widespread rain expected in England and Wales on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will return to near normal, while Saturday will be cool in places with blustery winds and scattered showers, with forecasters warning that 2027 is very likely to become the warmest year on record due to heat released from the ocean.