The Met Office says reports of a ‘snow bomb’ hitting the UK in early January should be treated with caution. At least one weather forecaster was predicting snowfall in early 2024.
There has even been talk of a second Beast from the East. Officially known as anticyclone Hartmut, the Beast from the East saw heavy snow and freezing conditions strike the UK in 2018.
James Madden, forecaster for Exacta Weather, said: “The risk is growing for a prolonged cold and snowy spell as we head into the early part of January. This is due to the risk growing for another SSW (Sudden Stratospheric Warming) event within this period, and this could bring the threat of another Beast from the East in early 2024.
“There are now strong indications for a major SSW to occur during the early part of January, and if it does, many parts of the UK can expect to end up in the freezer with snow events and severe cold weather.”
But Met Office forecasters are urging caution over claims snowfall could hit the UK after Storm Gerritt sparked chaos across the country during Christmas week, BirminghamLive reports.
Forecasters and meteorologists has played down reports but confirmed a potential Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) weather event could take place. A Met Office forecaster said: “Models are indicating there could be one (SSW) on 4 or 5 January.
“But it’s too early to give any real details and we have to wait to see if one actually happens. If it does then we would possibly see the effects towards the end of January.” In recent years some extreme cold, winter snow events have all been connected to the surface effects of sudden stratospheric warming.
An SSW was to blame for the infamous Beast from the East weather blast back in 2018. The term sudden stratospheric warming refers to what is observed in the stratosphere:- a rapid warming (up to about 50 °C in just a couple of days), between 10 km and 50 km above the earth’s surface.
On its website, the Met Office explains: “Usually a few weeks later, we can start to see knock-on effects on the jet stream, which in turn effects our weather lower down (in the troposphere). However, the stratospheric sudden warming doesn’t happen every year, and it doesn’t always affect our weather when it does.”
It means that northern Europe, including the UK is likely to get a long spell of dry, cold weather, whereas southern Europe will tend to be more mild, wet and windy. “On the boundary of these areas, cold easterly winds develop and in some cases the drop in temperatures leads to snow,” the Met Office says.
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