Bamboo was saying we are in for snow too - but that a covering of snow might actually protect plants from too much frost. I think I'll just pop off to warmer climes for the duration! (I should be so lucky...)

My wife and her sister keep on saying that too. Not sure why. Probably something to do with early signs of autumn or heavy fruit crops or something.
Almost makes me wish winter would come early just to prove them right or wrong so then they can stop going on about it !!
I also listened to the Sun Spot weather man on the radio earlier this year where he said that all the predictions about a very hot summer this year were nonsense. Well he certainly got that one right.

Makes you wonder what happened to the global warming we were warned about and pay taxes to help stop!

Some trees are in Autumn already. Odd year.

I blame all of the volcanic eruptions lately. I'm not sure of the effects of lower sunspot activity. --I've read all sorts on what that might do.

Sheilar, "Global Warming" is actually something of a misnomer, since while the Earth as a whole is going to get warmer in atmosphere and ocean, no one is really sure what the total effects are going to be. Paleoclimatologists note that the past 10,000 years have been an unusually mild and predictable climate in Earth's history. The Ice Ages before had much more variable weather, and the warm period before that was even more variable. I remember a Hagar the Horrible comic strip where he is telling Lucky Eddie, "On this voyage, you need to be ready for anything!"--with predictable results! : )

Sheilar - as the ice caps melt there will be less reflected heat going into the atmosphere. Their melting also releases freshwater into the ocean, potentially stalling the Gulfstream. So as the rest of the planet warms up around those of us in the northwest of Europe and the northeast of the North American continent, we could experience ever cooler temperatures. This is the effect of global warming that we may well have to live with!

Ice caps are, of course, not regular features of Earths history. They are a recent phenomenon. Dinosaurs lived Antarctica - in almost the same part of Earth that it was hundreds of millions of years ago.

Anyway, eaxataweather has the feature on the UK forecast - it describes why we may have a very bad winter.

With all the cloud cover this summer I expect there to be lots of snow, though that does not mean that we will have very cold temperatures.

I could not agree more with tug/meanie have a look at this RHS report about the warm spring and the early offset of autumn this year has been a poor year for a lot of plants and I hope it’s not a sign of things to come

http://press.rhs.org.uk/Press-releases/Early-autumn-colour-due-to-hot-dry-spring.aspx

Whilst a lot of it is still conjecture, the science behind the gulf stream is solid enough. Fact is that if it is correct, it's probably too late already...........

I go by the fat cat theory: if my cats get thicker fur and fatter than normal, the winter will be more harsh. This affects the UK because a high over the Azores pushes the storms to the north and into the UK, and brings us milder temperatures. I haven't noticed them getting a lot fatter, so you may be in for a rough winter.

Meanie, I couldn't agree with you more - the Gulf Stream was reduced by 30% five years ago - I have no doubt its even more reduced by now, and that's the only thing that keeps us from having winters like Canada - we're the same latitude as they are guys, and without the Conveyor, we'll have the same weather in winter. And I too, feel its too late to reverse this process, specially as its now gathering pace.
Anyway, for this winter, reduction in Gulf Stream, low sunspot activity, 2 volanoes going off - we're in for a tough one I suspect. And not because there's more berries or because we've had an early autumn or any of that stuff, but for good, scientific reasons as described.

Cheerful b#ggers aren't we Bamboo!

Well yes, depending on how you look at it, lol! Stark reality is often depressing, but best faced, I find...

Might be an idea to turn my garden over to one large conservatory!
Seriously though, it is all starting to add up. We have taken the Gulf stream for granted up until now.

Lack of insulation and high heating bills are my big worry, my flat has uninsulated walls and roof and I can't do anything about it - need all flats to agree to cavity wall insulation... And these things are precisely why we all need to face up and get prepared.

We're resigned to huge bills - can't even sod off to the Canaries for a few weeks as the pound is so weak against the Euro!

I comfort myself with the thought that I've not enough life left to worry about the really serious effects, it'll be after I'm gone hopefully. I used to worry about my kids, but frankly, I can't do anything about it, so I'm afraid they'll have to cope or not after I'm gone...

The question is will the large corporations allow change?
The planet is over populated, and quite simply we need to reduce the population - but that would harm the corporations (and national economies) far too much to ever be considered.........

If my information and conclusions are correct, Meanie, population reduction won't be an issue - extinction is the worst scenario, but hopefully some will survive, we did before, just about. And that kind of scene would render corporations and money irrelevant anyway...

better stock up on grit/salt again as my drive is steep and goes straight onto the a25!!! oh and anyone know where i can get a good set of snow chains from...better get in early before there is a rush on! :)

Google snow chains - I'm pretty sure I saw those on sale last year when I was looking for spikes for my boots.

Bamboo snow chains are fantastic when I was teaching IT I taught a Swedish student and he used snow chains and he said in Sweden they are a legal requirement to be carried in your boot.

Cold countries have winter and summer tyres - in Lithuania, for example, they switch to winter tyres as it approaches, and have chains available too - but of course, they're used to loads of snow and ice every single year. In the UK, it's unusual, so we're not geared up for it, and the problem with both winter tyres and chains is, they're not suitable for use on ice/snow free road surfaces. Which of course means you'd have to take them off every couple of weeks here, even in a bad winter, what a pain...

Not only every couple of weeks, but when moving from a minor road to a major one if its been cleared. And we live on a minor road... (well, not actually on the road you understand lol)