THE Met Office has been accused of giving ministers early warning of a
dramatically cold winter but keeping the public in the dark for a whole
month.

It warned the Government in October to expect an exceptional early freeze but
only made the warning public a month later.

It raises questions over whether the public, transport networks and councils
could have been better prepared if warned of the Big Freeze sooner.

The chill caused chaos just before Christmas with airports and roads closed,
faltering fuel deliveries, cancelled rubbish collections and trains stranded
on lines overnight.

The agency’s longer-term announcements were scrapped in March after it faced
widespread criticism following a series of gaffes.

They included predicting a barbecue summer in 2009 which became a washout and
a forecasted “mild winter” turned into one of the coldest in 30 years.

BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin said the Met Office had kept the
predictions secret because it was embarrassed by its earlier mistakes, and
instead of a seasonal forecast stuck to looking only a month ahead.

Mr Harrabin said: “With Britain shivering through a third winter in a row,
shouldn’t the weather forecasters have warned us well in advance? Why didn’t
the Met Office tell us?

“The truth is it did suspect we were in for an exceptionally cold early
winter, and told the Cabinet Office so in October.

“But we weren’t let in on the secret because the Met Office no longer
publishes its seasonal forecasts due to the ridicule it suffered for
predicting a barbecue summer in 2009.”

The Met Office the BBC’s official forecaster denied failing to
share October’s prediction because of the risk of embarrassment.

A Met Office spokesman said: “In late October we informed the Cabinet office
that there were early indications of a cold start to winter.

“Following public research we were told that a monthly outlook would be
of more use which is why we now have the 6-15 day and 16-30 day forecast on
our website.”

The Cabinet Office said the “information is shared as appropriate between
departments and with local responders” but could not say how October’s
forecast was shared.