Met Office Reportedly On Verge Of Issuing Red Alert For ‘Beast From The East’

The harsh storm sweeping across Britain, affectionately called the 'Beast from the East', has brought sub-zero temperatures and a decent battering of snow.

At the moment, the Met Office has one 'Amber Warning', that is due to last all of today and tomorrow, and is listed as 'Very High Impact'.

According to the Metro, the weather forecaster is on the verge of issuing a 'Red Warning', which means that extreme snow is on the way.

The current 'Amber Warning' is for much of Scotland and Northern England, with the Met Office saying: "Frequent and heavy snow showers are expected on Wednesday and Thursday leading to some significant accumulations developing. Long delays and cancellations on bus, rail and air travel could occur."

"Roads may become blocked by deep snow, with many stranded vehicles and passengers.

"Some rural communities might be cut off for several days. Long interruptions to power supplies and other services such as telephone and mobile phone networks, could occur."

There could be up to 40 centimetres of snow to the worst affected areas and if you thought the idea of -5C degrees was cold, we're told to expect that to feel even colder with wind chill expected to be fierce.

Great. Just great.

Emergency services have been dealing with plenty of call outs due to the bad weather and Public Health England has requested everyone to keep checking on their family, friends and neighbours to ensure they get through the storm.

The 'Beast' has the potential to get even worse as the week wears on, with another 'Very High Impact' warning issued for Thursday and Friday.

The Met Office says: "As it comes into contact with the very cold air resident over the UK, it has potential to produce widespread snow, accompanied by strong to gale force winds.

"As less cold air follows from the south, there is a chance of snow turning to freezing rain bringing an additional significant ice risk."

Forecasters say there is doubt about how bad that will be, adding that today's weather should give an indication.

Because the UK is just the epicentre of great weather, once the 'Beast from the East' settles down, Britain is set to get battered again by Storm Emma. That lovely weather pattern will be bringing us blizzards, gales and sleet from Thursday, but we'll be used to it by then, I guess.

You have to find a silver lining somewhere, which could come in the form of school closures next week.

Sources: Metro

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Weather, Storm, UK

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie