Met Office verdict on whether 'Beast From The East' is returning to the UK as Norway names Storm Ingunn

January has seen a mix of sub-zero temperatures and milder weather, but the colder temperatures are set to move in once again.

A snow blast could be on its way in February, with a so-called 'double snow wall' coming through. With temperature looking like they may well drop to -8C, there are fears that a 'Beast From The East' could hit the UK once again.

The infamous 'Beast From The East' snow storm, which originates from a polar continental air mass while pressure is high in Scandinavia, last hit the UK in 2018. The storm, also named as Anticyclone Hartmut, saw temperatures dip across the country, with rare red weather warnings issued at the time and multiple casualties attributed to the poor weather conditions.

But could this be returning to the UK? Well, according to the Met Office, there currently no need to panic. The weather service has said that while it is confident the country will experience a cold snap from the start of February into the middle of the month, it is yet unknown whether it will bring heavy snow and disruption with it.

Nicola Maxey, spokesperson for the Met Office, told the Mirror: "At the moment the most likely scenario for the first part of February is for fairly changeable and unsettled and towards the middle of the month there does appear to be potential for some colder spells. But it’s really not possible to look that far into the future and say if that involves snow, or whether the temperatures will be just a little below average or worse than that.

"When you’re looking at long range forecast the chaotic nature of the atmosphere comes into play so smaller events over the Atlantic have the potential to have significant impact on the weather here in several days time. While you can talk about the general feel of the forecast with some accuracy looking that far ahead it’s harder to come up with local detail, like you’d expect in shorter range forecast. There’s certainly the potential for some colder spells as we go through February but at the moment it’s still too far off to give detail."

It comes as the Norwegian Meteorological Institute named Storm Ingunn on Wednesday January 31, with high winds expected across Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland. A yellow wind warning is in place for northern Scotland between 5am and 7pm, while a similar warning is in place for the rest of Scotland, northern England and northern parts of Northern Ireland from 9am until 5pm.