More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled, with about 6,500 delays also reported owing to the extreme weather caused by the polar vortex of icy cold air that usually circles the North Pole.

Forecasters say the extreme weather is being caused by the polar vortex, an area of cold air that circulates around the Arctic.

“Examples are ice sheet melt and sea level rise, and the rise in extreme weather events. The longer-term warming itself is steady and is proceeding as predicted by the models.”

Extreme weather events like Beryl have rendered such an idea obsolete.

Flooding in Sudan and Nigeria in August and September showed that extreme weather can be exacerbated by poorly maintained infrastructure.