Christmas weather mirrored that seen before ‘beast from the east’ last year

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Britons should prepare for freezing weather towards the end of January after the same weather patterns that caused the “beast from the east” occurred again around Christmas, forecasters have said.

The Met Office said temperatures were expected to drop in the coming weeks, but it was too early to forecast widespread snow.

By the end of the month, conditions were expected to be more wintry and a new “beast from the east” can not be ruled out.

A Met Office spokesman said: “Next week there will be colder spells and there could be a little bit of wintriness in the north, but nothing too exceptional for this time of year.

“As we head towards the later part of January it will turn colder, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty in that forecast about where any snow will fall.

“The week beginning Monday January 21 there is a stronger signal of it getting colder that would increase the risk of snow across the UK.”

The Met Office said sudden stratospheric warming had appeared around Christmas, with a sharp rise in temperatures over a couple of days. When this happens in the Arctic, it can lead to a rush of cold air blowing eastwards across Europe a few weeks later, bringing much cooler temperatures to the continent.

The Met Office said this is also what happened early in 2018.

But a spokesman said that while a repeat of the “beast from the east” could not be discounted, the forecast for the next week suggested the UK would experience stable weather conditions.

“There have been some parts of Europe that have experienced quite significant cold, [and] heavier-than-average snow in countries like Austria and in northern and central Europe.

“We are looking at the next week or so, but we could see a change after that. But there is nothing in the next week or so that could indicate any change like the ‘beast from the east’.”