The weather this week has been borderline arctic, with temperatures hitting -6 degrees in daylight. While this is pretty wild, there’s a good chance that these conditions will replicate as we enter 2023 and over the next few years. Average temperatures in the coldest January on record sit at -1.9 degrees, which is considerably warmer than we’ve had during the last 7 days. 

So what can you expect from this winter and the winters going forward? And why is the cold snap impacting the entire country?

Why is the Weather so Cold?

Well the easy answer would be ‘because it’s basically winter’ but that wouldn’t be helpful. We aren’t weather experts here, but the Guardian writes “cold air from the Arctic has been pushed over the UK. This has been caused by a high-pressure weather system over Greenland and Iceland moving eastwards towards another high-pressure system over Russia. The result is a cold air mass in between being squeezed southwards and over the UK.”

So, in essence, we’re experiencing cold weather because the rest of the world is too. It’s not the science you need to know, though. It’s that the weather is going to impact your business one way or another. From transport disruption for staff to product delivery and supply chain, and heating and safety, this cold chill will be a struggle.

Top 4 Coldest Winters in UK History

Winter of 1947

While the world was still concentrating on the world post-war, the weather had no such worries. The winter of 1947 was a remarkable one. According to the Met Office, it snowed somewhere in mainland Britain for 22 days straight.

1962/63

This winter, known as the Big Freeze, was one of the coldest winter’s on record. Third only to the years 1684 and 1740 in terms of low temperatures, this winter was the coldest in centuries.

1982

While snow is infrequently seen across the country these days, back in 1982, it snowed for 36 hours straight. Over one day of snow, as you can imagine, products inches and inches of the white stuff all over our shores. There’s no way anyone was going anywhere then.

2010

This winter was one of the coldest on record, with the December of this year the coldest since records began. Temperatures of -1 degrees smashed the previous record of a mean temperature of 0.1 degrees in 1981.

It remains to be seen whether this December will smash the record set in 2010, but it sure feels pretty cold out. These temperatures may be causing impact to your business, but you need to be prepared. Because things may get worse before they get better.

Will Global Warming Make Winters Colder?

In an answer, the warming of the planet is in fact having an impact on both summer and winter. While that may make little sense, the warming of the arctic impacts the cool weather that we are experiencing right now. So as long as the temperatures fluctuate throughout the years, winter will be impacted as much as summer.

How Can I Avoid Disruption to my Business?

One way or another your business will become impacted by the ice, snow and cold weather. Either supply chain, staffing, customers or location can become impacted by the cold snap. As we’ve seen, people struggle in these temperatures, and that includes businesses.

Ensuring you have a good stock of rock salt, products, cleaning equipment and first aid gear to ensure you’re ready for many eventualities.

While we can’t help with your products, Direct365 can help with rock salt, cleaning equipment, first aid stock and much more. To see how we can help, and to see our great prices, take a look at our supplies page here.

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