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Recent headlines declared a "polar assault" was set to hit the UK and a freezing winter could be blighted by snow lasting well into February.

Media outlets reported that an icy spell of wintry snow worse than last year's Beast from the East could descend as early as this month.

If true, the weather could bring severe disruption to Wales – but despite multiple reports, the Met Office dispelled the claims.

The weather experts said there was nothing to suggest Wales should expect snow and that their forecasts don't extend four months in advance.

(Image: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

Although it would be very useful to predict the weather that far ahead, it's almost impossible to do.

From the impact of the oceans to the nature of the climate to the way meteorologists predict the weather, various experts have explained exactly why it is so difficult.

Cardiff University research fellow in climate change impacts Dr Marie Ekström said seasonal forecasting is difficult because of the "chaotic" nature of weather.

Dr Ekström said: "If you want to predict on seasonal time scales, there needs to be an atmospheric or ocean circulation in the region that has an element of predictability about it on the desired timescales.

"This could be a large-scale atmospheric circulation that takes a certain amount of time to break down or evolve, or sea surface temperature patterns or ocean currents.

"The ocean has much stronger day-to-day memory than the atmosphere so often ocean characteristics play an important role in seasonal forecasting."

The chaotic nature of weather also means that small effects can eventually have larger consequences later on, also known as the butterfly effect.

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University of South Wales mathematics lecturer Dr James Kent said: "For long-range weather forecasts we have these small events that we don’t necessarily know about, which can have an impact later down the line.

"It's also difficult with our models, and again it comes down to the chaotic nature of our mathematical models.

"We use our data from today to help predict the weather for the next day and so on. Small errors in our model prediction for one day can have large effects for later days.

"If the model predicts for 30 days time, any small errors in the forecast for each day can amplify over time."

The Met Office said predicting the weather in the coming hours, days, weeks and months is a "complex" undertaking.

They said: "In an ideal world, everyone would like to know exactly what the weather will do so we can make definite plans. Nature, however, doesn't work like that."

(Image: WalesOnline)

Because of how difficult it can be, the Met Office provide a short-range detailed forecast for the coming seven days and an outlook for the following 30 days which gives a general feel of the weather.

Forecasters also provide a three-month outlook designed to help government agencies and public sector organisations prepare and plan for future weather scenarios.

An outlook that suggests a greater likelihood of ‘below average temperatures’ during winter months for example, might allow councils to plan ahead with their grit stock.

Dr Kent said: "They can predict the likely state of the atmosphere over the next four months but most people want to know exactly what’s going on day-to-day.

"They can say it's looking to be colder than average but not exactly what the weather will be on a given day."

Although you won't find any detailed forecasts for a few months time, it's common to see statements made about how the climate will change in the coming decades.

Following the scorching summer Wales basked under this year, some experts believed it could be a sign of things to come.

Dr Kent said the distinction needs to be made between weather and climate to understand why experts can predict conditions in years to come.

He said: "The weather is the immediate whereas the climate is more what the state of the atmosphere is over a period of time.

"The climate is more about if the average temperature will be higher or lower than average over a given period.

"You can't predict that on October 30, 2028 it is going to rain at 3.30pm (weather), but you can predict the average temperature in 2028 (climate)."