Whitehall scrambles to ease blackout fears after Met Office ‘underestimated’ winter freeze

The minister urged people to have “confidence” in energy supplies for this winter, insisting that he “was not expecting to see” a breakdown of the National Grid.

According to the Mail on Sunday, a Whitehall insider claimed that the Met Office had “dramatically underestimated [the scale]” of this December’s cold snap when they drew up their long-term forecast earlier this year.

However, the Met Office has defended itself, saying that it had warned that cold snaps were a “likely scenario” and had also flagged the threat of snow and ice in December, as has “largely been seen so far”, followed by the still expected milder weather in January.

Last week’s freezing Arctic blast, which saw some parts of the country see temperatures fall as low as -17 C, posed a problem for the National Grid, as households began turning up their heating to stay warm. 

READ MORE:Blackout horrors of 1974 heard as National Grid plan looms

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1711209/whitehall-scrambles-blackout-fears-met-office-arctic-winter-freeze-national-grid