Snowfall warning issued 22 Nov at 3am GMT. Expect a severe wintry blast to affect much of Central and Western Europe including the North Sea coastline of Britain. Especially cold in the Alps this weekend. In the US very unusual pre-Thanksgiving snow and bitterly cold north winds will affect the eastern Seaboard almost to the Gulf of Mexico. Most snow will be light but locally very heavy lake effect snow will continue to fall on shores south of the Great Lakes. Japan is also experiencing an early start to winter. 2008 is following the snowy pattern of last season.

• 2008