Thousand mile-wide ‘Beast from the East’ to bring brutal -10C over 12-day freeze
After the UK was pelted with cold weather at the beginning of the year, Brits are once again being told to prepare over the coming days as the country is set to freeze
After the freezing conditions from Storm Goretti, another bout of cold weather is heading our way(Image: Getty Images)
A 1,000 mile-wide ‘Beast from the East’ is set to bring whiteouts and -10C in a brutal 12-day winter freeze. It comes just weeks after the UK was hit hard with several cold snaps, followed by Storm Goretti to mark a wet start to 2026.
The cold spell will blow in on bitter winds from Russia later this week, triggering fears of a repeat of the 2018 Beast that caused snow and ice chaos. After showers in coming days, the white stuff is forecast to blanket much of the South, Midlands and North at the weekend.
Snow or sleet daily for six days are forecast in Birmingham and Sheffield, with London also due flurries. Highs will be around 12C until Thursday (January 22) before plunging to just 3-5C for most from Sunday (January 25) and feeling like a numbing -1C to 2C in biting easterly wind chill.
Overnight lows of -10C are expected, even in the South, with “bands of snow” set to cause travel disruption, according to predictions. The Met Office also warned the chills could last into February, longer than the five-day shiver in late November and the 10-day cold period in early January.
Netweather forecaster Nick Finnis said: “The Beast is back on computer forecasts. Temperatures look colder and colder as very cold air from Russia spreads across Europe.”
BBC Weather said: “Cold conditions should develop later in the week, with wintry weather likely to persist into early February. An easterly flow is likely to bring a colder-than-average period, with penetrating frosts, snow showers and bands of snow bringing accumulations to some areas.”
A Met Office forecaster said: “There is an increased chance conditions will turn colder, with snow across parts of the country. And into February has the risk of wintry hazards at times.”
Back in 2018, chaos was triggered when a huge burst of cold air and freezing temperatures resulted in a slew of snow for the entire UK. Cities including London, Manchester and Edinburgh were snowed under due to extreme snowfall, despite it coming at the end of February — right at the beginning of spring.
The UK got another taste of this at the beginning of the year, when another ‘Beast from the East’ left Britain getting a deluge of snow for days on end. Some places saw as much as 10 centimetres of snow to kick off 2026 in a rather meagre and cold way.
However, the immediate arrival of Storm Goretti over the first week of the year caused even more chaos, as high winds and prolonged rainfall battered the country, leaving many to have to flee their homes as a result of high flooding. Since then, temperatures have slowly picked up and returned to the average for this time of year, with one Met Office spokesperson saying the cold weather will mostly be finished after this.
“In the immediate future colder weather isn’t expected to return for the UK,” the spokesperson said. “Temperatures for most of next week should remain near average; while there’s still a slight possibility that winds from the east could bring a chill during the final week of January, that is still a long time away giving time for the forecast to change.”
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