Snow weather forecast Met Office: where in UK can expect deep snowfall - when will ‘Beast from the East’ hit?

Forecasters are predicting a combination of an Arctic blast from the east as well as a ‘snow bomb’ from the west next week
Snow could be heading to the UK next week.Snow could be heading to the UK next week.
Snow could be heading to the UK next week.

A ‘snow bomb’ heading to the UK is predicted to bring some winter weather and heavy snowfall.

While polar air is expected to come over to the UK from the opposite direction in a ‘Beast from the East’ style arctic blast.

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After a rather mild February - despite three storms in a week - people across the nation may need to prepare for lows of -4 degrees.

Here is everything you need to know about the winter weather in March 2022.

Will it snow in March 2022?

The start of 2022 has not been filled with flurries of white snow but it has seen a string of storms that caused mass chaos across the country such as Eunice, Dudley and Franklin.

Snow could be heading to the UK next week.Snow could be heading to the UK next week.
Snow could be heading to the UK next week.

The extreme weather is not calming down as new weather maps from WXCharts show that there is a ’snow bomb’ moving across the Atlantic ocean which could bring around three inches of snow to the UK.

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The snow is currently forecast to land around 10 March and is expected to hit Scotland, Wales and parts of northern and central England the hardest.

The weather front will bring freezing temperatures with some parts of Scotland and northern England seeing -4 degrees.

The long-range Met Office forecast for the UK is currently showing that it will be “cold across much of the UK” next week with some wintry showers.

There is Polar air coming in from Europe and milder currents from the Atlantic ocean which are set to clash next week.

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The collision of the cold and warm air is rare but as the weather system is approaching as the UK heads into spring, the damage shouldn’t bee too severe.

Where will the snow hit?

The heaviest snowfall will hit Scotland with 25 centimetres predicted.

Other areas where the snow is likely to land are Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, the Welsh Valleys, Lancashire and the North East of England.

The south of the country is more likely to see heavy rain - 10mm an hour could be seen in London and its surrounding areas.

What is a ‘snow bomb’?

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A ‘snow bomb’ sometimes referred to as a weather bomb is an unofficial term for a low pressure system whose central pressure falls 24 millibars in 24 hours in a process known as explosive cyclogenesis.

The Met Office described the weather phenomenon as: “Rapid acceleration of air caused by the jet stream high up in the atmosphere can remove air from the column, reducing its weight so causing pressure to fall at sea level.

“This in turn sucks in air which converges from surrounding regions resulting in faster and faster rotation of the circulation,  in the same way that ice skaters spin faster by drawing their arms in.

“The resulting winds peak over a period of a few hours and can be strong enough to bring down trees and cause structural damage.”

Will the ‘snow bomb’ be as bad as The Beast from the East?

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The original ‘Beast from the East’ hit the UK in March 2018.

The official name of the storm was Anticyclone Hartmut which began on 22 February 2018 and brought gusts of 70mph to the nation.

In some places there was 57cm of snow and temperatures fell to minus 22 degrees and the storm claimed the lives of 17 people in the UK.

The upcoming ‘snow bomb’ is not likely to come close to the destruction of the Beast from the East, but temperatures will drop dramatically from the Arctic blast coming our way leading to comparisons to the 2018 storm.

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