There could be a weather event that could trigger another ‘Beast from the East’ and hit the UK at the end of the month. Bring it on, it can’t get much worse.
Researchers from the universities of Bristol, Exeter and Bath found that a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) is currently occurring high above the North Pole.
SSW events are some of the most extreme of atmospheric phenomena and can see the polar stratospheric temperature rise to 50 ° C over the course of a few days. Such events can bring very cold weather, often resulting in snow storms
The infamous 2018 ‘Beast from the East’ was brought by an SSW. It may take several weeks for the disturbance to surface, or the process may take just a few days.
The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), involved the analysis of 40 SSW events observed.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Richard Hall, said there is an increased risk of extreme cold and possibly snow in the next two weeks.
He added, “While an extremely cold weather event is not a certainty, about two-thirds of SSWs have a significant impact on surface weather. At the moment, it’s hard to say whether this will be a split or displacement type.”
4 days agoDann Mitchell, associate professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Bristol and co-author of the study, added, “The extreme cold weather that this polar vortex outage brings about is a strong reminder of how suddenly our weather can turn.
“Even as climate change is warming our planet, these events will still happen, meaning we have to adapt to an increasingly extreme temperature range.”
The Met Office expected us to experience slightly colder weather by the end of the month, but believes temperatures won’t be as low as in 2018 – particularly the kind that spawned the beast from the East.
Office spokesman Nicola Maxey said: “You have the two events at the same time, so they compete in a sense against each other. They are fighting for influence over the UK, we are a very small point in the middle of the ocean.
“The feeling right now is that we might see a little colder weather in late January to February, but probably the kind of weather we’re seeing right now, unlike what is popularly seen as a beast from the east.”