Is the ‘Beast from the East’ set to return?

Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said: “This cold spell will last certainly this week and into next week, although we should see a little bit of recovering temperatures as we start next week.”

Ms Maxey added: “Temperatures are a little bit below average for January. I think by the time we get to mid-month we’re probably going to see those temperatures move closer to the average for this kind of year.”

Met Office meteorologists are tracking two weather events that may affect the conditions the UK faces over the coming weeks – a La Nina, which would likely bring wet and stormy weather, and sudden stratospheric warming, associated with very cold weather.

Ms Maxey continued: “You’ve got the two events happening at the same time so they vie against each other in a sense. They’re sort of fighting for influence over the UK, we’re a very small dot in the middle of the ocean.”

Sudden stratospheric warming in 2018 brought the heavy snow termed the Beast from the East; however, Ms Maxey said the event is more likely to bring more cold weather without heavy snow, though it is difficult to predict.

“The feeling at the moment is that we may see some colder weather towards the end of January into February, but probably the sort of weather that we’re seeing at the moment, as opposed to what is popularly perceived as a Beast from the East,” she said.