UK weather forecast: Britain to enjoy balmy weekend before snow and sub-zero temperatures sweep in

Country could see return of 'Beast from the East'

A balmy weekend will bring some relief to shivering Britons before snow sweeps in towards the end of the month, forecasters say.

After a cold day for many on Thursday, forecasters are predicting the country will bask in a warmer, milder weekend before temperatures dip to the average for the time of year.

Britain is experiencing the same weather patterns that brought last year’s Beast from the East, which could cause a repeat of the snow that brought the country to a halt.

Friday will be a fairly dry day with some cloud around and light rain and drizzle in places, which will be more persistent in the north west.

Temperatures will be just above the average of 6C for the time of year, with Newcastle seeing around 7C-8C, Manchester 8C-9C, and Bristol and London 9C-10C.

Similar weather to Friday will continue into the weekend, but the mercury will creep up to double figures on Saturday and Sunday.

Monday night will dip to below freezing in the north of England, Scotland and the east, with Norwich potentially seeing lows of -3C and London 2C, with -1C in isolated areas.

This mild, cloudy weather with rain and sunny spells will continue for the first half of the month before temperatures plummet.

Met Office forecaster Nicola Maxey told The Independent: “It’s mainly this weather we’re seeing at the moment continuing into the middle of the month.

“Then, as we go through towards the end of the month, these conditions become a little bit more changeable with some spells of rain and strong winds, and some of that rain might fall as snow.

“We’ve had a sudden stratospheric warming and that is the same weather phenomenon that resulted in the Beast from the East last year.”

This raising of temperatures at high altitudes eventually led to the Beast from the East being drawn in from Siberia early last year, battering the UK with heavy snow and ice-cold temperatures and bringing parts of the country to a standstill.

Snowy conditions and freezing temperatures hit the length of the UK in late February and early March, prompting the Met Office to issue a rare red weather warning, its highest category, in central Scotland.

The extreme weather, brought by a mixture of the Beast from the East and Storm Emma, saw widespread travel disruption and resulted in the deaths of 17 people.