The beast from the east is the phrase used to describe cold and wintry conditions arriving over the UK from an Easterly direction.
The change in the jet streams position has allowed colder winds from Russia to hit the UK, resulting in a drop in temperatures.
As temperatures will be at the lowest for several years, Public Health England has issued health warnings as vulnerable people could be affected by the freezing weather to come.
Everyone’s talking about the #BeastFromTheEast. This short silent film explains what it is pic.twitter.com/YWo5G2ZctO
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 22, 2018
How will it affect Merseyside ?
Temperatures will be around 5C at the weekend and with the gusty winds it will feel closer to a bitterly cold -5C at times.
By Wednesday temperatures wont climb above 0C during the day and there could be nightly lows of just -4C, with the weather feeling closer to -7C at times.
With the unusually cold weather comes a risk of snow, although forecasters do point out that its too early to tell where will see snow at the moment.
However, the greatest chances of snow are pointing to late next week, as an area of low pressure could bump into the cold air, dumping a significant amount of snow across the UK.
Interesting weather forecast from BBC for next week. Temperatures will be freezing but an area of low pressure could bump into the cold air dumping a significant amount of snow on the UK #beastfromtheeast pic.twitter.com/lU76ryC31y
— Wirral Weather (@Wirral_Weather) February 23, 2018
The Met Office said that the cold snap “could even last into mid march”, with the forecaster predicting that “locally significant snowfalls are likely”.
They said: “Strong winds will make it feel bitterly cold at times. Widespread, locally severe frosts are likely.
“The cold weather will continue into early March, with the northwest seeing the best of any brighter weather”
On a mobile device ?. Scroll down to see the LIVE weather and tomorrows weather for Merseyside.
And like our facebook & twitter page to keep up to date with our latest posts.
