The weather is forecast to be fairly calm and settled in the coming weeks with above-average temperatures despite chilly overnight conditions during the next few days. But from mid-January, the Met Office said much colder weather is possible as freezing air from the east could engulf Britain via Siberia and Scandinavia.By the end of January a weather phenomenon called Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) is threatening to usher in cold snaps reminiscent of the “Beast from the East” that crippled Britain last winter.The savage weather conditions started to take effect at the end of February last year, when a large Arctic air mass stretching from the Russian Far East to the British Isles unleashed thick snowfall and sub-zero temperatures.A cocktail of “widespread snow events”, sub-zero temperatures and bitter winds have been forecast for Britain in January and February 2019.
In a few week’s time there will be an “enhanced risk of snow” and an “increased likelihood of colder weather conditions” across the UK, according to the Met Office. Met Office forecaster Grahame Madge said: “Last year there was a classic set-up with the Beast from the East, there was an event in the Arctic – sudden stratospheric warming – where the stratosphere warms rapidly.“"That triggers, generally, a change in the direction of winds across Europe at surface level. "The upshot is that normally when this happens in the Arctic you get easterly winds and that's what happened last year.“But although that warming has happened in the Arctic already just prior to Christmas, we are not seeing any change in an easterly pattern.”
Temperatures could plunge below freezing in Scotland and north-west England overnight this week as colder conditions start to rear their head. Although conditions are expected to be stable for the foreseeable future, the “significant cold” crippling parts of Europe could arrive in Britain by mid-January. Madge said a cold snap akin to the “Beast from the East last year could not be ruled out.
At least 17 people are thought to have died during winter 2017/18 as a result of multiple cold waves and Storm Emma, which brought up to 50cm of snow and biting winds in parts at the beginning of March.SSW happens when cold air spinning over the Arctic slows down increases in temperature during winter.This warming of stratospheric air blocks the jet stream from bringing milder air from the Atlantic, paving the way for frigid Arctic winds to sweep across Europe.
Bookmaker Coral is offering odds of 4-6 that this winter proves to be the coldest on record. It is now also odds on, at 1-2, that snow falls in London this month.“Forecasters are warning that temperatures are going to plunge towards zero and beyond and it’s left us with no choice but to have the coldest winter on record as odds on,” Coral spokesman Harry Aitkenhead said.“We’re certainly expecting snow to fall sooner rather than later now and the capital’s residents can expect some this month.”