UK households urged to 'cover letterboxes' as big problem sweeps England
UK households have been urged to "cover their letterboxes" as a big problem sweeps England. After Storm Goretti, towns and cities across the country have turned distinctly colder, with temperatures plunging nationwide.The Met Office has issued fresh yellow warnings for ice this week, with flooding also likely further south, as rain warnings are also triggered for Thursday, January 15.In a bid to keep households warm, Joanna O'Loan, knowledge manager at the Energy Saving Trust, has shared some handy guidance.READ MORE Major airline axes 'all' long-haul flights from top UK airportAnd Sam Jump, head of business development at underfloor heating specialist the Wunda Group, adds: "During a cold snap, there are several simple ways that homeowners can cut down energy usage to save money on their heating bills without switching the heating off. The single most effective way of making your heating work more efficiently is to identify and address areas of heat loss."The first thing households need to do is beware of draughts, because homes lose up to 20 per cent of their warmth through windows and external doors, according to Jump."Audit and seal any gaps where even the slightest draught could be creeping through, and keep both internal and external doors closed, or better yet, invest in an external letterbox and some draught excluders," Sam said."Investing in heavy or thermal-lined curtains will yield the best results," he advises. Sam also advised blocking keyholes as well as letterboxes.Exacta Weather's James Madden said: "The most recent and latest GFS (Global Forecast System) and ECM (European Model) runs continue as before and will now bring and see temperatures dropping to something significantly colder across our shores during next week (strong pattern recognition and good cross-model agreement on something COLD)."Additionally, the overall prospects will vary in arrival and timings and cold/snow prospects from run to run for much of this week."Mr Madden said: "And it is more likely to be later in the week or towards the upcoming weekend before we can use these with confidence to help judge the overall scale for cold and snow severity from the incoming cold and expected widespread snow events on our part."
