The Met Office has addressed rumours that a 'Beast from the East' storm could hit Britain in the coming weeks.
Reports suggested that blizzard could hit the UK in two weeks' time, bringing with it 18 hours of continuous snowfall. Impacting almost all the country, the first hints of snow were thought to fall on Friday March 3.
WXCharts, a weather forecast model, claimed the storm would spark a mega 24-hour snow blitz in the North Sea until Monday March 6, with up to six inches forecast to fall up and down England.
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But the Met Office has confirmed that while conditions will be turning colder this week, there is no sign of a snowstorm coming. The weather coming up is 'nothing unusual' for this time of year, Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said.
He told the Manchester Evening News on Tuesday (February 21): “Within the next seven days – our current forecasting window – there is no prospect for a Beast from the East type weather set up. Conditions will turn cooler toward the end of the week and into the early part of next week, but these conditions are fuelled by home-grown cooler conditions and in fact the weather over the next week will be nothing unusual for the time of year: typical winter weather."
He continued: “With recent weather features over the Arctic and around the pole there could be a longer-term prospect of colder conditions affecting the UK at the end of February and into March. This is by no means certain however. We are signalling the chance for colder conditions to occur after the next week, but at this lead time we cannot have sufficient confidence to state the chances of the event occurring or likely impacts any more definitively.”
Meanwhile, the UK was forecast a rather mild start to this week, with temperatures hitting double figures in most places. There has been rain and drizzle so far this week, especially on higher grounds in the North West.
Some showers are predicted to turn wintry in hilly areas on Tuesday evening (February 21) and into Wednesday (February 22), according to the Met Office's UK forecast for this week. The week will end with mostly dry conditions and some sunny spells, with light or moderate winds.
Temperatures will remain about average for this time of year.
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