Weather experts issue balmy update after ‘Beast from the East’ sequel predicted

Steve Hopkins

Right now, weather experts in Ireland and the UK are confident only in the fact that October will be warmer than usual.

From February 22nd until March 5th, back in 2018, a polar vortex that was dubbed ‘The Best from the East’ [An Torathar ón Oirthear] swept across Ireland, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe.

It resulted in more than €1.5 billion in damages and 76 fatalities [17 in the UK] across Europe. The event itself was rare, but some fear that rising global temperatures could be skewing the ecosystem and leading to greater occurrences of what made landfall here, five and a half years ago.

Over in the UK, the Met Office has responded to suggestions that the weather phenomenon will return in November and stay into the new year, amid reports that an ‘Indian Summer’ is also set to return.

The beast led to weeks of freezing temperatures, heavy snow, and heavy winds. It was the result of anticyclone Hartmut which brought a cold wave from a large arctic airmass to our shores. Temperatures dropped to lows of almost -12C overnight, power cuts hit, airports halted flights and the first-ever red warning for snow was issued.

On Monday, it was reported that the weather phenomenon that caused the Beast from the East in 2018 will return in November and stay into the new year.

Exacta Weather forecaster James Madden told the Mirror that there is a “medium-high risk for an early SSW (sudden stratospheric warming) from in and around mid-November onwards this year”. However, he added that it could take “a number of weeks” before its impact can be seen in Britain.

He stated that there is an “even greater risk” of a SSW occurring throughout January and February that are “likely to be highly influential on our overall weather patterns in terms of snow and cold.”

According to the Met Office, a sudden stratospheric warming refers to what happens in the stratosphere – a rapid warming of up to 50C in a couple of days, between 10km and 50km above the Earth’s surface. Because it happens so far away, we don’t usually feel the warming, but that affects our weather lower down.

A spokesperson for the Met Office has since told The Mirror “there’s no snow in the current forecast” and added that parts of the UK and Ireland could be in store for some unusually warm weather this coming week, with some places “reaching the mid-20s”.

According to Accuweather, temperatures will peak at 23C (degrees) in Dublin, on Saturday, with temperatures ranging between 14 and 21C for the three days that follow. Longer-term, in October, daily highs are in the mid teens and do not drop to 12C until October 29. In the UK, the warm weather will continue into next week, with highs of 24C predicted on Monday in London.

Jim Dale, a meteorologist for British Weather Services, believes temperatures will remain high until at least mid-October. GFS weather charts turn dark red on Friday and according to current forecasts, the southwest of England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland will experience the first wave of intense heat.

Dale told The Mirror said: “I think we can fairly call this an Indian Summer incoming – it will be peaking this time next week, but it will still be pretty good to the halfway stage of October. About 25C tops next Sunday is my call.”

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