YORK may have been basking in balmy weather this week - but the elderly and vulnerable in the city were today warned to brace themselves for what could be the coldest winter in nearly a decade.

Weather experts from The Met Office have warned that Britain was likely to get particularly chilly this year, after nine mild winters in a row.

The organisation has put emergency planners on "amber alert", writing to Government, NHS and road chiefs to help them prepare for the coming months.

Spokesman Wayne Elliott said it was not possible to forecast how low temperatures were likely to plummet, but said: "This year there's a signal that polar air and not tropical will predominate through the winter.

"We haven't had a cold winter for many years. It will have quite an impact."

But Mr Elliott dismissed suggestions that global warming might be responsible for the expected cold weather, and added that although the coming months were likely to be very cold, the signals were they would also be dry.

The UK's last cold winter was in 1995/6, when the average temperature across Britain was 2.5C. The only time the country has ever recorded an average temperature of minus zero was in the winter of 1962/3, when the country shivered at -2.5C.

The coming cold winter may come as a shock in York, which has been enjoying an Indian Summer. The average temperature for October in the Vale of York is 14C (57F) - but yesterday York was considerably warmer at 18C (64.4).

Over the weekend, temperatures floated between 15C and 16C, despite downpours on Saturday. On Friday, it was even warmer, at between 16C (61F) and 17C (62F). But later this week unsettled weather is set to hit the country, as a depression brings rain and winds.

Sally Hutchinson, chief officer at York's Age Concern, said the organisation was "particularly worried" at the prospect of a harsh winter and its impact on the elderly.

"Weather forecasting is so much more accurate these days," she said. "It's a good idea for people to be thinking ahead."

She said the charity would be running its usual annual campaign to prepare the elderly for chilly temperatures.

Leaflets on how to combat cold weather are available at Age Concern's offices in Walmgate, York.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said the authority would be "closely monitoring" conditions.

LUCY STEPHENS asked shoppers in York what they thought about the weather

Postman Michael Sawyer, 47, of Walmgate, York, said: "There aren't four seasons any more, they've all blended into one."

Barmaid Kelly Greenley, 22, a barmaid of Lawrence Street, York: "I don't think the weather has changed all that much. I don't think the winters are any colder."

Midwife Vicky Marsay, 40, of Strensall, said: "People say the weather never used to be like this. It seems to have got more extreme.

Eileen Cobourne, 79, of York, said: "I saw a tree near where I live and it was loaded with berries for the birds, this means we're going to have a bad winter."

Laura Walker, 28, of Norton, said: "I don't think anyone knows what's going on with the weather. It keeps changing all the time."

George Raine, 69, of Osbaldwick, York, said: "It's just crazy. When I was a young lad I went to play through deep snow at this time of year."

Updated: 10:06 Tuesday, October 11, 2005