A meteorologist who predicted the Beast from the East admits it is unlikely the UK will avoid severe wintry weather amid concerns a polar vortex will see temperatures plummet. A cold weather alert has already been put in place between Sunday, February 5 and Tuesday, February 7, with overnight temperatures expected to dip below zero.
Jim Dale, from British Weather Services, told The Mirror he fears a polar vortex that could cause havoc in the UK could linger until March. Mr Dale, who also accurately predicted the Troll from Trondheim, said: "t's very much a case of watch this space at the moment. Sometimes in a dislocation, you get a shift southwards - it's a bit of a lottery as we try to predict the status."
The polar vortex, a powerful weather system surrounding the north pole, tends to contain bitterly cold air and prevents icy blasts from coming our way. When the vortex is disrupted - in what meteorologists label a Sudden Stratospheric Warming event - we can see spectacularly low temperatures and sometimes heavy snowfall here in the UK.
