In article , Tom Bennett tom.bennett@mil
lermitchell.co.uk writes

I do have to say that, at the moment, the professional forecasts for the
UK next week look unusually wintry for mid-October. For those of you who
are interested, there's a very good German meteorology site at:
http://www.wetterzentrale.de/ and this covers Europe, including the UK.

Last year there was a cold period at the start of October (IIRC) and
then a ridiculously warm winter until the 2nd half of February.

BTW, coldest winter of the 21st Century so far might mean a warmer than
average winter - IIRC, we've been having a run of mild winters.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley