UK weather: Britain set for cold snap as 'beast from the east' rolls in from Russia

A conveyor belt of storms will bring short-term wind, rain and misery while the UK can expect an exceedingly cold snap over Christmas

A woman walks through the rain in central London on Saturday (PA)

The UK is braced for weeks of terrible weather as a series of 60mph Atlantic storms are expected to hammer Britain, bringing widespread flooding and travel chaos.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, forecasters are also predicting that temperatures could drop to as low as -10C around New Year as Russian winds – carrying a ‘Beast from the East’ – sweep in and spell a week or more of freezing weather.

The Met Office has issued a weather warning across much of the south-east for the next three days as heavy wind and rain with the possibility of thunder is expected to batter southern England, with forecasters warning people to be aware of localised flooding.

Meteorologist Leon Brown, of The Weather Channel, also cautioned people to expect heavy rains, estimating that parts of Scotland could expect over 250 percent more rain than was usual for this time of year.

The Met Office’s chief forecaster summed up in an assessment: “An active frontal system associated with an Atlantic depression will push in from the west later on Monday.

“This front will become slow-moving, allowing pulses of heavy and sometimes thundery rain to spread northwards across south west England and South Wales before finally clearing north-eastwards on Wednesday.”

It follows a weekend which saw 10 days’ worth of rain fall in six-hours on Saturday, drenching much of the south-east and bringing a sodden end to previously mild autumnal weather.