Melting ice rinks and giant sprouts: is warm weather ruining winter this year?

Thanks in part to a strong El Nino, December has been unseasonably warm. Besides being unfestive, it's playing havoc with flora and fauna on both sides of the Atlantic

Christmas is rarely the snow-covered idyll that British people see on their advent calendars, but we do at least expect it to be nippy. This year, however, thanks in part to a strong El Nino - a warm phase in the Pacific Ocean current that tracks back and forth between South America and Australia - it feels as though we're still waiting for autumn to end, let alone winter to really get going.

In much of England and Wales over the weekend, temperatures were expected to reach the mid-teens, perhaps even 17C in places. Mild doesn't really do it justice; warm is what it is.