Dave Britton, the Met Office's Chief Press Officer, e-mailed the following statement to the Global Warming Policy Foundation:

Following the entry on your blog regarding the Met Office please find the Met Office response below:

The Met Office has not issued a seasonal forecast to the public and categorically denies forecasting a 'mild winter' as suggested by Boris Johnson <http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/> in his column in the Daily Telegraph.

Following public research, the Met Office no longer issues long-range forecasts for the general public; instead we provide a monthly outlook on our website, which have consistent and clearly sign-posted the very cold conditions.

Our day-to-day forecasts have been widely recognised as providing excellent advice to government, businesses and the public with the Daily Telegraph commenting only today that 'the weekends heavy snow was forecast with something approaching pin-point accuracy by the Met Office'.

The public trust and take heed of our warnings and it is misleading to imply that the Met Office did not see this cold weather coming.

Dave Britton Chief Press Officer

Met Office - FitzRoy Road Exeter EX1 3PB United Kingdom

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk

GWPF Note: The Met Office's track record of forecasting mild winters can be found here: Warm Bias: How The Met Office Mislead The British Public