It’s certainly been a rather chilly last couple of weeks across IONA. But was that it as far as cold weather is concerned for winter 2020-21? It certainly looks that way if we are to believe the 42 day extended forecast of temperature anomalies from the ECMWF. Their track record admittedly has been poor though – they never foresaw this cold spell for example. What about the SSW event that’s going on I hear you ask? Well that looks like a lame duck, the polar vortex might have decided to take a wander, but above average anomalies dominate the charts for the four week starting the 18th of January through to the 15th of February. There could be a cold end to February and a cold March of course, they certainly can happen, but one thing that looks certain is that this looks like the end of the road for this particular cold spell.