Britain's Most Extreme Weather

Ice (1x2)

Air date: May 05, 2014

Are our winters going to get even colder? To find out, Alex Beresford explores the historical evidence and the latest research. A combination of first-hand testimonies and astonishing homemade footage reveal the dangers of our recent cold snaps. Alex discovers how freezing weather can shut down the transport network, kill livestock and present hazards to anyone caught out in the cold. He experiences the dangers of freezing winds when he endures a wind chill that takes temperatures down to minus 50. Alex examines the severe winter of 1962/ 63: the coldest in over 200 years, when Britain was hit by temperatures below minus 20, and 80mph winds. The snow lay on the ground for a record-breaking 62 consecutive days and January 1963 was the single coldest month of the 20th century. Travelling further back in time, he examines the Little Ice Age, when temperatures were colder for hundreds of years. Could such an extended period of cold weather happen again? If so, how soon could it affect Britain?