‘Beast from the east’ to bring snow and sub-zero temperatures to Britain
A blast of cold air from Siberia is going to hit the UK next week in what could be the coldest end to winter in five years. Dubbed the “beast from the east”, the weather front brings a risk of “significant” snowfall across Britain – including as far south as London – and will cause temperatures to plunge below zero from Sunday night. Some areas are expected to see lows of -8C.
The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for Tuesday morning for the entire eastern half of the UK. “Showers or longer periods of snow will affect eastern parts of the UK during Tuesday,” the weather service said. “There is the potential for travel delays on roads, with some stranded vehicles and passengers, as well as delays or cancellations to rail and air travel. Some rural communities could become cut off.
Power cuts may also occur and other services, such as mobile phones, may be affected.” A forecaster joked that spring had been “postponed” due to the chill arriving from the east just before 1 March – the first day of the meteorological spring. Met Office meteorologist Martin Bowles said the mercury will drop to as low as -5C in London on Sunday night, while snow is probable in the capital from late on Monday and into Tuesday.
Mr Bowles said: “Somewhere like the Scottish mountains might go lower than that, but that’s actually quite normal in the Scottish mountains, whereas it’s definitely not normal to have -5C in London at the end of February. We haven’t had temperatures that low in late February since 2013. It’s not unheard of. There are records that are lower than that.”
He added: “But it is quite unusual, particularly as it’s quite late in the season. We refer to 1 March as being the first day of spring and of course 1 March will be right in the middle of this cold spell, so spring will be postponed for a couple of weeks.”
During the day on Monday, temperatures of 1C and 2C are expected across much of the country, while Northern Ireland will escape the worst of the cold due to its western position. Snow is expected mostly in eastern areas and is set to accumulate in some parts.
“With the days feeling a little longer and lighter it can be easy to forget that cold weather can still kill,” said Dr Thomas Waite, of Public Health England’s extreme events team. “Over-65s, those with conditions like heart and lung diseases and young children are all at particular risk in cold weather as their bodies struggle to cope when temperatures fall. So before it gets cold check on friends, family and neighbours who may be at risk and make sure they’re heating homes to at least 18C, see if they need any particular help or just someone to talk to and keep an eye on the Met Office’s forecasts and warnings.”