Is the 'Beast from the East' making a comeback?
Temperature models indicate a colder than average week is awaiting Britain towards the end of the month.
Wednesday 9 January 2019 11:12, UK
Britain might be facing a cold snap by the end of January, if early European weather predictions are correct.
But any cold front will come after unseasonably warm weather, with some parts of the country experiencing double figure temperatures this weekend.
Forecasters have said the same weather pattern which sparked last year's 'Beast from the East', bringing freezing temperatures and heavy snow, could return.
A sudden stratospheric warming appeared around Christmas, when there was a sharp increase in temperature over a couple of days.
When this happens in the Arctic, it can lead to a rush of cold air blowing eastwards across Europe a few weeks later. This brings much cooler temperatures across the continent.
Temperature maps from the European Commission indicate Britain will have temperatures of about 2-3C during the second half of January, slightly cooler than average for this time of year.
In a long-range forecast the Met Office said: "During the last week of January and into early February there is an increased likelihood of colder weather conditions becoming established generally across all of the UK.
"This would bring an enhanced risk of frost, fog and also snow. These notably colder conditions are by no means certain though, and even if they do occur, they are will probably still be interspersed with some milder, wetter and windy interludes."
Although the Met Office is not ruling out a Beast from the East, forecasters believe the weather will be stable.
Grahame Madge, from the Met Office, 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."
Other parts of Europe have already experienced dramatic weather, with heavy snow falling across Austria and Germany.
Mr Madge added: "There have been some parts of Europe that have experienced quite significant cold, heavier-than-average snow in countries like Austria and in northern and central Europe.
"It is possible we could still see this turn to a more easterly flow but if anything it looks as though we are in stable weather conditions.
"We are looking at the next week or so, but we could see a change after that. But there is nothing in the next week or so that could indicate any change like the Beast from the East."
At least 13 people have been killed across Europe in weather-related accidents in the last week, many of them avalanches.
In the Alpine region, hundreds of people remain trapped in their homes for another day after heavy snowfall.
Flights have been cancelled around Europe and some authorities are warning of more risks of avalanches.
Rescue workers have put a mission to find the bodies of four skiers in Norway on hold again because of poor visibility and snowfall.
In Romania, police found the frozen body of a 67-year-old man in a car park in Slatina after his wife reported that he had not returned from work.
Temperatures there dropped to -24C (-11F).
On Monday night, 11 German hikers were rescued by mountaineers from a cabin in Salzburg, where they had been snowed in with no electricity and little food since Friday.