The Beast from the East, 2018 #

Question 1

What were the primary effects of the Beast from the East?

Answer 1

• A man died in London after being pulled from a frozen lake, other reported deaths.
• Rural areas experienced temperature lows of -12 degrees.
• Up to 50cm of snow in parts of Dartmoor, Exmoor and uplands parts of south-east Wales.
• Snow drifts were as high as 7m in places.
• Gusts of 60-70mph in parts of northern England and Wales.

Question 2

What are the secondary effects of the Beast from the East?

Answer 2

• Thousands of schools were closed.
• Scottish premiership postponed its games.
• British airways cancelled hundreds of short-haul flights from Heathrow.
• There were multiple accidents on Britain’s roads, including major incidents on the A1 in Northumberland.
• Hundreds of people were trapped in their vehicles for hours, on the A31 for example.
• There were many lorries that crashed or jack knifed.
• Some supermarkets saw a rush of customers. There were reports of shelves being stripped of bread, milk and soup.

Question 3

What was the management/responses to the Beast from the East?

Answer 3

• Stranded drivers were given foil blankets.
• Drivers of a Greggs delivery van, stuck on the A1 near Newcastle, gave out food to stranded drivers.
• The army were called in to help people when storm Emma hit.
• The met office issued ‘red warnings’ for several areas, including the belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
• Councils had to send out gritters and snow ploughs to clear the roads.
• Public Health England (PHE) urged people to plan ahead to ensure they have enough food and medicine.

Question 4

What were the causes of the Beast from the East?

Answer 4

• Change to the northern polar jet stream, drawing in cold air to the UK from the East.
• Bending was caused by a jump in temperatures high over the Artic.
• This reversed the UKs normal westerly winds with easterly.
• This weakened the jet stream that brings warm air in from the Atlantic to Britain. This allowed cold air in from the east.
• The cold air picked up moisture over the northern sea so brought snow.
• This dumped a huge amount of snow on the UK.
• 1st March 2018, a depression called Storm Emma started to move in from the Atlantic across Cornwall, causing even more snow as cold air sat over the UK. This caused the Met Office to issue Red weather warnings.

Question 5

What were some positive affects of the Beast from the East?

Answer 5

Fun in the snow - sledging and skiing.

Question 6

When was the Beast from the East?

Answer 6

February/March 2018