best from the east case study

UK Storm Case Study - Beast from the East

Extreme weather event in the UK – The BEAST from the EAST, 2018

Key words Extreme weather - This is when a weather event is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern, and is especially severe or unseasonal. This may take place over one day or a period of time. Immediate responses - The reaction of people as the disaster happens and in the immediate aftermath. Long term responses - Later reactions that occur in the weeks, months and years after the event.

• The Beast from the East (25 February) was caused by a change to the northern polar jet stream, which twisted its direction unexpectedly, drawing in cold air to the UK from the east.
• This bending was caused by a jump in temperatures high over the Arctic, known by meteorologists as sudden stratospheric warming (During the winter, a blob of extremely cold air spins clockwise in the stratosphere above the Arctic. It is particularly cold due to the total lack of sunlight hitting the Arctic at this time.If the cold blob starts to spin slower, the air will rush back inwards. Think what happens when you are stirring a cup of tea very fast, and then stop. As it slows down, this air sinks through the atmosphere, becomes warmer, and then even starts to spin the opposite way. Reversing the Uk's normal westerly winds with an easterly. Source )
• This unexpected warming weakened the jet stream that brings warm air in from the Atlantic to Ireland and Britain , this allowed COLD air in from the East
• So cold air from thousands of miles away is dragged over to us, bringing a severe chill – though the air is a lot warmer when it arrives at our doorstep, having risen from -50°C.
• This air picked up moisture over the North Sea bringing SNOW
• This affected mainly the East coast and dumped a huge amount of snow on the UK
• Then on the 1st of March a depression called Storm Emma started to move in from the SE (from the Atlantic) across Cornwall causing even more snow as it hit the cold air sat over the UK.  This caused the Met Office to issue Red weather warnings.

Primary effects 1. A man died in London after being pulled from a frozen lake, whilst there were 3 other reported deaths 2. Huge amounts of snow where dropped on the East coast of the UK and in the Scottish Borders 3. Up to 50cm (19 inches) of snow in parts of Dartmoor, Exmoor and uplands parts of south-east Wales accompanied by gales or severe gales in exposed areas. 4. Gusts of 60-70mph in parts of northern England and Wales. 5. Rural areas experienced temperature lows of -12°C 6. Snow drifts were as high as 7m in places 7. Many coastlines were also issued with flood warnings

Secondary effects 1. British Airways cancelled hundreds of short-haul flights from Heathrow, and London City Airport also cancelled many services. 2. Hospitals in Glasgow, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole cancelled all outpatient appointments while Harrogate hospital asked staff who can walk to work to go in to cover shifts 3. Thousands of schools were closed 4. Scottish Premiership postponed its games 5. Police in Macclesfield said they arrested two suspected thieves after tracking their footprints through the snow 6. Hundreds of people were trapped in their vehicles for hours, on the A31 for example 7. There were many lorries that crashed or jack knifed 8. The weather cost the UK millions. The AA estimated that there were 8,260 collisions on Britain’s roads from the snow chaos in just three days, with the insurance cost  above £10m. Two thirds of them due to snow and ice. 9. Some supermarkets saw a rush of customers. There were reports of shelves being stripped of bread, milk and soup. 10. A baby was born on the A66 near Stockton-on-Tees after the parents failed to make it hospital as a result of the snow 11. There were multiple accidents on Britain's roads, including major incidents on the A1 in Northumberland 12. Major shopping centres and businesses closed early. 13. There were worries the UK could run out of Gas  

Management/Responses

• Stranded drivers were given foil blankets
• The Army were called in to help people when Storm Emma hit
• Councils had to send out gritters and snow ploughs to clear the roads
• Drivers of a Greggs Delivery van, stuck on the A1 near Newcastle, gave out free food to stranded drivers
• The Met Office issued "red Warnings" for several areas, including the belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow
• Public Health England (PHE) urged people to plan ahead to ensure they have enough food and medicine.
• Rail passengers were warned to avoid travelling to or from Scotland on Thursday while in Kent 50 stations closed.
• Cleveland Mountain Rescue took district nurses around rural elderly patients in East Cleveland and North Yorkshire Moors. They also ran NHS staff into James Cook at Middlesbrough to keep services running
• Army and Royal Air Force personnel were called in to ferry health workers through blocked roads in Lincolnshire and in Scotland. Ten RAF 4x4 vehicles with 20 airmen began transporting health staff from dawn in Lincolnshire after an urgent request from local police.

NEXT TOPIC - Evidence for Climate Change

©2015 Cool Geography

• Copyright Policy
• Privacy & Cookies
• Testimonials
• Feedback & support

“Beast From the East” – Snow Chaos in Europe Caused by Melting Sea-Ice in the Arctic

The April snow falling on fruit blossoms in Europe these days may be directly connected to the loss of the sea ice in the Barents Sea in the Arctic. That was certainly the case in 2018 when the sudden cold spell known as “Beast from the East” descended on the mid-latitudes of the continent, a new study in Nature Geoscience shows.

They are diligently stoking thousands of bonfires on the ground close to their crops, but the French winemakers are fighting a losing battle. An above-average warm spell at the end of March has been followed by days of extreme cold, destroying the vines with losses amounting to 90 percent above average. The image of the struggle may well be the most depressingly beautiful illustration of the complexities and unpredictability of global climate warming. It is also an agricultural disaster from Bordeaux to Champagne.

It is the loss of the Arctic sea-ice due to climate warming that has, somewhat paradoxically, been implicated with severe cold and snowy mid-latitude winters.

“Climate change doesn’t always manifest in the most obvious ways. It’s easy to extrapolate models to show that winters are getting warmer and to forecast a virtually snow-free future in Europe, but our most recent study shows that is too simplistic. We should beware of making broad sweeping extrapolations about the impacts of climate change.” Says CAGE professor Alun Hubbard.

Melting Arctic sea ice supplied 88% of the fresh snow

Hubbard is the co-author of a study in Nature Geoscience examining this counter-intuitive climatic paradox: A 50% reduction in Arctic sea-ice cover has increased open-water and winter evaporation to fuel more extreme snowfall further south across Europe.

The study, led by Dr. Hanna Bailey at the University of Oulu, Finland, has more specifically found that the long-term decline of Arctic sea-ice since the late 1970s had a direct connection to one specific weather event: “Beast from the East” – the February snowfall that brought large parts of the European continent to a halt in 2018, causing £1bn a day in losses.

Researchers discovered that atmospheric vapor traveling south from the Arctic carried a unique geochemical fingerprint, revealing that its source was the warm, open-water surface of the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean between Norway, Russia, and Svalbard. They found that during the “Beast from the East,” open-water conditions in the Barents Sea supplied up to 88% of the corresponding fresh snow that fell over Europe.

Climate warming is lifting the lid off the Arctic Ocean

“What we’re finding is that sea-ice is effectively a lid on the ocean. And with its long-term reduction across the Arctic, we’re seeing increasing amounts of moisture enter the atmosphere during winter, which directly impacts our weather further south, causing extreme heavy snowfalls. It might seem counter-intuitive, but nature is complex and what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.” says Bailey.

When analyzing the long-term trends from 1979 onwards, researchers found that for every square meter of winter sea-ice lost from the Barents Sea, there was a corresponding 70 kg increase in the evaporation, moisture, and snow falling over Europe.

Their findings indicate that within the next 60 years, a predicted ice-free Barents Sea will likely become a significant source of increased winter precipitation – be it rain or snow – for Europe.

“This study illustrates that the abrupt changes being witnessed across the Arctic now, really are affecting the entire planet,” says professor Hubbard.

Reference: “Arctic sea-ice loss fuels extreme European snowfall” by Hannah Bailey, Alun Hubbard, Eric S. Klein, Kaisa-Riikka Mustonen, Pete D. Akers, Hannu Marttila and Jeffrey M. Welker, 1 April 2021, Nature Geoscience . DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00719-y

Related Posts

Isotopes from cave stalactites show more intense and frequent thunderstorms linked to global climate variability, advanced international analysis narrows range of climate’s sensitivity to co2, major new paleoclimatology study shows last 150 years of global warming has undone 6,500 years of cooling, hydrologists find environmental damage from fog reduction is observable from outer space, hurricanes are getting stronger according to analysis of long-term satellite imagery, emerging across the globe: potentially fatal combinations of heat and humidity, scientists warn: current health issues in china could be dwarfed by looming threats, fingerprints of global warming detected in daily weather observations at the global scale, model simulation experiments improve monsoon forecasting.

Fix your damn title. You contradict yourself in the first phrase of the article. “The April snow falling on fruit blossoms in Europe these days MAY BE directly connected to the loss of the sea ice in the Barents Sea in the Arctic.”

I always find it interesting that for the last decades, every climate abnormality is somehow always due to man made climate change and global warming.

“Their findings indicate that within the next 60 years, a predicted ice-free Barents Sea will likely become a significant source of increased winter precipitation – be it rain or snow – for Europe.” So global warming = colder temperatures for the next 60, a paradox indeed. Climate models have been proven wrong over and over, for decades there was almost no progress in predicting climate events. Somehow common sense predicted there was no reason for this degree of alarmism, so I will stick to that.

It seems that a basic assumption in conjectures revolving around the words “may” and “likely” is that “… what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.” I don’t see a case being made that it is inevitable that ‘climate change’ will result in even more frequent excursions of Arctic air into lower latitudes, let alone wholesale changes in air mass circulation.

Climatologists have typically disavowed the role of water vapor as a significant ‘greenhouse gas’ based on the claim that water vapor precipitates out in a few days. Yet, in this case, the transitory behavior is blamed for European snow. It would seem to me that the probability of increased Arctic water vapor precipitating onto Greenland, northern Siberia, or northern Canada is greater than it reaching lower latitudes. More snow cover at high latitudes would increase the albedo over that of bare tundra, thus cooling the region. The truest thing written in the article is, “nature is complex.”

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Information

• Author Services

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

• Active Journals
• Find a Journal
• Proceedings Series
• For Authors
• For Reviewers
• For Editors
• For Librarians
• For Publishers
• For Societies
• For Conference Organizers
• Open Access Policy
• Institutional Open Access Program
• Special Issues Guidelines
• Editorial Process
• Research and Publication Ethics
• Article Processing Charges
• Testimonials
• Preprints.org
• SciProfiles
• Encyclopedia

Article Menu

• Subscribe SciFeed
• Recommended Articles
• Google Scholar
• on Google Scholar
• Table of Contents

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

JSmol Viewer

The polar vortex and extreme weather: the beast from the east in winter 2018.

1. Introduction

2. stratospheric polar vortex: february–march, 2018, 3. surface weather response, 4. conclusions, author contributions, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

• Waugh, D.W.; Sobel, A.H.; Polvani, L.M. What is the polar vortex and how does it influence weather? Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 2017 , 98 , 37–44. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kidston, J.; Scaife, A.A.; Hardiman, S.C.; Mitchell, D.M.; Butchart, N.; Baldwin, M.P.; Gray, L.J. Stratospheric influence on tropospheric jet streams, storm tracks and surface weather. Nat. Geosci. 2015 , 8 , 433–440. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kretschmer, M.; Cohen, J.; Matthias, V.; Runge, J.; Coumou, D. The different stratospheric influence on cold-extremes in Eurasia and North America. Nat. Clim. Atmos. Sci. 2018 , 1 , 44. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Cohen, J.; Pfeiffer, K.; Francis, J.A. Warm Arctic episodes linked with increased frequency of extreme winter weather in the United States. Nat. Commun. 2018 , 9 , 869. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Overland, J.E.; Wang, M. Impact of the winter polar vortex on greater North America. Int. J. Climatol. 2019 , 39 , 5815–5821. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• King, A.D.; Butler, A.H.; Jucker, M.; Earl, N.O.; Rudeva, I. Observed relationships between sudden stratospheric warmings and European climate extremes. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 2019 , 124 , 13943–13961. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Greening, K.; Hodgson, A. Atmospheric analysis of the cold late February and early March 2018 over the UK. Weather 2019 , 74 , 79–85. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Cohen, J.; Screen, J.A.; Furtado, J.C.; Barlow, M.; Whittleston, D.; Coumou, D.; Francis, J.; Dethloff, K.; Entekhabi, D.; Overland, J.; et al. Recent Arctic amplification and extreme mid-latitude weather. Nat. Geosci. 2014 , 7 , 627–637. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Nakamura, T.; Yamazaki, K.; Sato, T.; Ukita, J. Memory effects of Eurasian land processes cause enhanced cooling in response to sea ice loss. Nat. Commun. 2019 , 10 , 5111. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ] [ Green Version ]
• Kalnay, E.; Kanamitsu, M.; Kistler, R.; Collins, W.; Deaven, D.; Gandin, L.; Iredell, M.; Saha, S.; White, G.; Woollen, J.; et al. The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 1996 , 77 , 437–471. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ 2.0.CO;2" target='_blank'>Green Version ]
• Baldwin, M.P.; Dunkerton, T.J. Stratospheric harbingers of anomalous weather regimes. Science 2001 , 294 , 581–584. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ]
• Charlton, A.J.; Polvani, L.M. A new look at stratospheric sudden warmings. Part I: Climatology and modeling benchmarks. J. Clim. 2007 , 20 , 449–469. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Seviour, W.M.J.; Gray, L.J.; Mitchell, D.M. Stratospheric polar vortex splits and displacements in the high-top CMIP5 climate models. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 2016 , 121 . [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Karpechko, A.Y.; Charlton-Perez, A.; Balmaseda, M.; Tyrrell, N.; Vitart, F. Predicting sudden stratospheric warming 2018 and its climate impacts with a multimodel ensemble. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2018 , 45 , 13538–13546. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Lee, S.H.; Butler, A.H. The 2018–2019 Arctic stratospheric polar vortex. Weather 2020 , 75 , 52–57. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Hoskins, B.J.; McIntyre, M.E.; Robertson, A.W. On the use and significance of isentropic potential vorticity maps. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 1985 , 111 , 877–946. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Thompson, D.W.J.; Baldwin, M.P.; Wallace, J.M. Stratospheric connection to Northern Hemisphere wintertime weather: Implications for prediction. J. Clim. 2002 , 15 , 1421–1428. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Hitchcock, P.; Simpson, I.R. The downward influence of stratospheric sudden warmings. J. Atmos. Sci. 2014 , 71 , 3856–3876. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kautz, L.-A.; Polichtchouk, I.; Birner, T.; Garny, H.; Pinto, J.G. Enhanced extended-range predictability of the 2018 late-winter Eurasian cold spell due to the stratosphere. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 2020 , 146 , 1040–1055. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Butler, A.H.; Sjoberg, J.P.; Seidel, D.J.; Rosenlof, K.H. A sudden stratospheric warming compendium. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 2017 , 9 , 63–76. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Dee, D.P.; Uppala, S.M.; Simmons, A.J.; Berrisford, P.; Poli, P.; Kobayashi, S.; Andrae, U.; Balmaseda, M.A.; Balsamo, G.; Bauer, P.; et al. The ERA-Interim reanalysis: Configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 2011 , 137 , 553–597. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Climate Prediction Center, National Weather Service. Available online: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/ (accessed on 7 May 2020).
• Masato, G.; Hoskins, B.J.; Woollings, T.J. Wavebreaking characteristics of midlatitude blocking. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 2012 , 138 , 1285–1296. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Woollings, T.; Barriopedro, D.; Methven, J.; Son, S.-W.; Martius, O.; Harvey, B.; Sillmann, J.; Lupo, A.R.; Seneviratne, S. Blocking and its response to climate change. Curr. Clim. Chang. Rep. 2018 , 4 , 287–300. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ] [ Green Version ]
• Hanna, E.; Hall, R.J.; Cropper, T.E.; Ballinger, T.J.; Wake, L.; Mote, T.; Cappelen, J. Greenland Blocking Index daily series 1851–2015: Analysis of changes in extremes and links with North Atlantic and UK climate variability and change. Int. J. Climatol. 2018 , 38 , 3546–3564. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Strong, C.; Magnusdottir, G. Tropospheric Rossby wave breaking and the NAO/NAM. J. Atmos. Sci. 2008 , 65 , 2861–2876. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kunz, T.; Fraedrich, K.; Lunkeit, F. Impact of synoptic-scale wave breaking on the NAO and its connection with the stratosphere in ERA-40. J. Clim. 2009 , 22 , 5464–5480. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Aikawa, T.; Inatsu, M.; Nakano, N.; Iwano, T. Mode-decomposed equation diagnosis for atmospheric blocking development. J. Atmos. Sci. 2019 , 76 , 3151–3167. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Huang, J.; Tian, W.; Gray, L.J.; Zhang, J.; Li, Y.; Luo, J.; Tian, H. Preconditioning of Arctic stratospheric polar vortex shift events. J. Clim. 2018 , 31 , 5417–5436. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Tao, W.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, X. The role of stratosphere vortex downward intrusion in a long-lasting late-summer Arctic storm. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 2017 , 143 , 1953–1966. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Galvin, J.; Kendon, M.; McCarthy, M. Snow cover and low temperatures in February and March 2018. Weather 2019 , 74 , 104–110. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Lu, C.H.; Ding, Y.H. Observational responses of stratospheric sudden warming to blocking highs and its feedbacks on the troposphere. Chin. Sci. Bull. 2013 , 58 , 1374–1384. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Mo, K.C.; Livezey, R.E. Tropical-extratropical geo-potential height teleconnections during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Mon. Wea. Rev. 1986 , 114 , 2488–2515. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Tropical Northern Hemisphere (TNH), NOAA Climate Prediction Center. Available online: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/teledoc/tnh.shtml (accessed on 7 May 2020).
• Barnston, A.G.; Livezey, R.E. Classification, seasonality and persistence of low-frequency atmospheric circulation pattern. Mon. Weather Rev. 1987 , 115 , 1083–1126. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Ionita, M. The impact of the East Atlantic/Western Russia pattern on the hydroclimatology of Europe from mid-winter to late spring. Climate 2014 , 2 , 296–309. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Francis, J.A.; Skific, N.; Vavrus, S.J. North American weather regimes are becoming more persistent: Is Arctic amplification a factor? Geophys. Res. Lett. 2018 , 45 , 11414–11422. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]

Click here to enlarge figure

Share and Cite

Overland, J.; Hall, R.; Hanna, E.; Karpechko, A.; Vihma, T.; Wang, M.; Zhang, X. The Polar Vortex and Extreme Weather: The Beast from the East in Winter 2018. Atmosphere 2020 , 11 , 664. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060664

Overland J, Hall R, Hanna E, Karpechko A, Vihma T, Wang M, Zhang X. The Polar Vortex and Extreme Weather: The Beast from the East in Winter 2018. Atmosphere . 2020; 11(6):664. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060664

Overland, James, Richard Hall, Edward Hanna, Alexey Karpechko, Timo Vihma, Muyin Wang, and Xiangdong Zhang. 2020. "The Polar Vortex and Extreme Weather: The Beast from the East in Winter 2018" Atmosphere 11, no. 6: 664. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060664

Article Metrics

Article access statistics, further information, mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

• International
• Education Jobs
• Schools directory
• Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search

Beast from the East Geography Lesson. Extreme weather case study.

Subject: Geography

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

20 September 2023

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

This is a full lesson on the Beast from the East. It covers the causes, impacts and responses. The main task is for students to complete a newspaper article - the template for this is also included.

Ideal for use with KS3 however could also be used with KS4 as a case study for extreme weather.

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Skip to content

Get Revising

Join get revising, already a member.

The 'Beast from the East' 2018

Case study of 2018's 'Beast from the East', with causes and impacts of the extreme weather

Teacher recommended

• Created by: FenellaMae
• Created on: 12-05-18 17:44

• Weather and climate Extreme Events in the UK

Report Wed 16th January, 2019 @ 08:18

Similar Geography resources:

The Beast From The East 5.0 / 5 based on 2 ratings

Georgraphy-Africa 0.0 / 5

Tourism Case studies 0.0 / 5

Economic development in the UK 0.0 / 5

gcse geography case study theme 2 3.0 / 5 based on 1 rating

what is the challenge of resource management 0.0 / 5

Weather Hazards 0.0 / 5

geography theme 2 case studies 4.0 / 5 based on 2 ratings

UK environmental challenges 0.0 / 5

Changing Settlements 0.0 / 5

• 0 Shopping Cart

Natural Hazards

The Beast from the East Quiz

You are here: GCSE Geography Interactive Revision > Natural Hazards > The Beast from the East Quiz

What disturbed the jet stream in February 2018?

Identify the air mass that brought the beast from the east to the uk., true or false during the winter in the northern hemisphere there is a large mass of cold air in the upper atmosphere, also known as the stratosphere. this vortex is what causes air to move from west to east usually. however, in february 2018 there was a considerable rise in air temperature of around 50°c 18 miles above the earth at the north pole. sudden stratospheric warming caused a weakening of the jet stream leading to a change in the direction of the winds approaching the uk from west to east to east to west, allowing a cold air mass (polar continental air mass) from russia to cover the uk., what was the temperature of the cold air that arrived in the uk from siberia in late february 2018, true or false the air mass picked up water over the north sea, which resulted in a heavy snowfall when it reached the uk., identify the weather system originating from the azores that met the cold air mass from siberia, rapidly cooled, condensed and brought blizzards, gales and sleet., which of the following are examples of the social impacts of the beast from the east.

Please select 4 correct answers

Which of the following are examples of the economic impacts of the Beast from the East?

Which of the following are examples of the environmental impacts of the beast from the east.

Please select 3 correct answers

Whihc of the following are examples of the responses to Beast from the East?

Share this:.

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

Please Support Internet Geography

If you've found the resources on this site useful please consider making a secure donation via PayPal to support the development of the site. The site is self-funded and your support is really appreciated.

Search Internet Geography

Latest Blog Entries

Pin It on Pinterest

• Click to share
• Print Friendly

• Client Login
• Supplier Login
• Rail Replacement
• Passenger First & Last Mile
• Managed Taxi Rank Solutions
• White Docket Management
• Rail Crew Transport & Accommodation
• Delay & Divert Solutions
• Passenger Accommodation
• Door-to-Door Transfers
• Missed Connections
• Travel Management Companies
• Crew Transport and Accommodation
• Patient Transfer Services
• Employee Transport
• Event Travel and Transport Management
• Staff Shuttle Service
• Business Continuity
• COVID-19 Transport
• Onward Travel
• Passenger Transport

Call us today on 03333 207 100

• Emergency Transport
• Corporate Travel Management
• Hotel And Accommodation
• CMAC Booking Portals
• First and Last Mile
• Sustainability Strategy
• Community and charity Strategy
• Meet the team
• Business Travel Report
• Taxi Expenses Report
• Airline Consumer Research Report

Case Studies

• Become a Supplier
• Accommodation
• Partnership
• Health Care
• Public Sector

Press enter to search or ESC to close

Find out about how CMAC services have helped our partners

Beast from the east.

Posted Jul 21, 2021

During Beast from the East, CMAC supported many organisations impacted by the severe weather including Virgin trains, RAC, Greenflag, Flybe and Thomas Cook to name but a few.

The challenge

In February 2018, a record-breaking Arctic snowstorm swept the UK causing mass disruption.

Dubbed ‘Beast from the East’, the severe weather left thousands in need of emergency transport and temporary accommodation across Britain.

The solution

As experts in mass disruption, CMAC proactively prepared for the storm.

Over an eight-day period, CMAC moved over 100,000 people and booked over 15,000 hotel rooms.

Our industry leading technology was essential for ensuring the calls and bookings were dealt with rapidly and efficiently.

We contacted clients in advance and advised them to use our online booking portal where possible, as this would free up resource in our call centre and speed up the process.

We also significantly increased staff resource in order to deal with the influx of requests.

During this period, CMAC experienced the highest call volume they had ever dealt with.

Our front-line operations staff communicated to clients that their transport could be tracked in real-time via the Live Tracker app.

We supported multiple airlines, arranging 6600 coaches and taxis and booking more than 15,000 hotel rooms.

CMAC also supported multiple rail companies, moving over 1000 rail passengers in 136 coaches.

Over a seven day period our teams arranged over

Hotel rooms

Related Posts

Supporting manchester metropolitan university.

Posted Jan 11, 2024

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary: Operation London Bridge

Posted Mar 27, 2023

London Hospital staff transport

Posted Mar 17, 2023

Built by Statuo , Designed by Arena

Geogramblings

The Life Geographic: A somewhat self-absorbed personal and professional development blog of an ex-Geography high-school teacher…

The ‘Beast from the East’?! What a load of hot air…

The past couple of days I’ve been keeping an eye on events back home by checking UK news feeds and messaging friends. It seems things really have got interesting, with a easterly Siberian cold air mass, nicknamed ‘The Beast From The East’ clashing with a storm coming in from the west, given the name ‘Emma’  by the Portuguese Meteorological Service .

While the ‘Beast From The East’ had already caused problems for the British Isles, when ‘Emma’ joined in the fun, the south-west of England were issued with red warnings by the MetOffice, meaning there is a danger to life, among other threats .

When it comes to case studies, knowing the exact dates is not only useful but pretty vital for doing lesson or resource preparation, or enabling students to conduct their own research:

So while I thought about doing a classic ‘case-study’ style blog entry about the current extreme weather hitting the British Isles right now, looking at the impacts and responses etc, I quickly found that focusing on the causes alone revealed some interesting, surprising and perhaps concerning elements that are not so obvious. So I’ll leave the Geography teaching community to rustle up the classic case-study (a good example on the left!) I’m going all-in with the causes…

Clearly this is an extreme cold weather event. And talking about very cold winds (the ‘Beast’) originating from Russia in the east offers a relatively simple explanation to it being rather cold!

So Emma comes along carrying moisture picked up from over the Atlantic Ocean. This collides with the cold air mass coming from the east, causing more snow to be dumped over the UK .

And so chaotic scenes ensue, including my school among many others having to be shut for the whole week , and in Diss, Norfolk – where I hope my house and its tenants are coping with the conditions without any issues! ( Bracing myself for the estate agents to get in contact with bad news…)

But really, it’s all hot air…

However, the reason why we have a blast of very cold air coming from the east is counter-intuitive. It’s because we have too much warmth both in and above the Arctic. First, let’s start with the temperature readings that stunned scientists keeping tabs on the Arctic:

In fact, on the 21st February, some areas of the Arctic had recorded temperatures 30°C/54°F higher than their 1979-2000 average. This shocked scientists and got plenty of media attention, like this article in the Washington Post .

But it’s not just this sudden pulse of warm temperatures in mid-to-late February which has caught the attention of a lot of scientists and organisations, its that these  conditions are becoming warmer and more persistent during the Arctic winter. The three months of December 2017, January and February 2018 saw the Arctic 7ºC warmer than the 1981-2000 average .

So what has this got to do with the cold ‘Beast From The East’ , then? Well in fact, the MetOffice having noted the exceptionally warm temperatures over the Arctic, a couple of weeks ago predicted that a cold snap with potential heavy snowfall was to follow . The warming Arctic is causing ‘normal’ weather patterns to be disrupted.

A  polar vortex is a circulation of very strong winds in the high in the atmosphere. One circles west-to-east around Antarctica, and the other circles west-to-east around the Arctic. Alex Deakin from the MetOffice, who Brits may recognise from TV weather forecasts, gives a really good explanation of the polar vortex, and how changes in it can affect the weather over the UK:

What is generally the case, is that when there is less of a temperature difference between the Arctic and places further south, then the polar vortex weakens and wobbles. Since this winter the Arctic has been exceptionally warm, the vortex has not just weakened, it seems to have even splintered and fragmented.  Jeremy Mathis of NOAA uses the analogy of the Arctic being the planet’s refrigerator. He says that when the vortex is weak, it’s like…

“…the door to that refrigerator has been left open… And the cold is spilling out, cascading throughout the northern hemisphere.”

The weakening of the polar vortex, and in turn the jet-stream has meant that colder air has allowed to spill out from the Arctic, driving temperatures down in some places further south.

The graphic on the left shows temperatures about a kilometer up in the air from 28th February, giving the appearance of the cold air is spilling out of the Arctic.

This extreme weather event is one example why the term ‘global warming’ is so confusing. For a start, you cannot associate a single event to it, but the confusion comes from people thinking it means everywhere on the planet will be much warmer all the time. But what it actually means is that the average temperature of the planet increases, which in turn causes weather processes and climate patterns to change. Hence the more used term of ‘climate change’. I suppose ‘global weirding’; would work too, given that it all really is, well, weird! This extreme weather event is also yet another example of why some confuse weather and climate .

Jonathan Watts of The Guardian has done a good Q&A which you should check out , exploring the potential relationship between these cold snaps and climate change. Also good further reading can be found by the BBC , and The Conversation .

So to twist the words of a certain world leader’s tweet : Perhaps we could use a little less of that good old Global Warming… Bundle up!  (Yes.. things are weird at the moment!)

Enjoyed this entry?  Please sign up to email alerts by clicking on the ‘Follow’ button in the bottom right , giving you a shout when I post again in the near future!  🙂

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Published by Kit Marie Rackley (they/she)

Kit Marie Rackley (they/she) is an award-winning ex high-school Geography teacher in the UK. Throughout that time and continuing today, Kit Marie provides teacher continuous professional development (CPD) and training, which previously included a role as Associate Tutor for the School of Education at the University of East Anglia. Kit Marie has worked as an education consultant and project manager with climate and energy scientists, including researchers based at NOAA Boulder, Colorado and as an educator and trainer at the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, California, and is now freelance consultant with the UK’s Geographical Association and the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT). They are a published educational author, including works with National Geographic Kids and Diverse Educators. Kit Marie is a strong and passionate advocate of youth voice and empowerment, decolonising the curriculum, and inclusive and intersectional education. Much of their work revolves around the climate crisis, focusing around framing it as a school safeguarding issue. Kit Marie runs an educational resource blog at Geogramblings.com, and is host and producer of the Coffee & Geography podcast. View all posts by Kit Marie Rackley (they/she)

2 thoughts on “ The ‘Beast from the East’?! What a load of hot air… ”

• Pingback: Snow days and delays: – Geogra-FREE
• Pingback: Geographical Decade Review: 2010-2019 (Part 2) – The Life Geographic

Leave a comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Provide details on what you need help with along with a budget and time limit. Questions are posted anonymously and can be made 100% private.

Studypool matches you to the best tutor to help you with your question. Our tutors are highly qualified and vetted.

Your matched tutor provides personalized help according to your question details. Payment is made only after you have completed your 1-on-1 session and are satisfied with your session.

• Homework Q&A
• Become a Tutor

All Subjects

Mathematics

Programming

Health & Medical

Engineering

Computer Science

Foreign Languages

Access over 35 million academic & study documents

Gcse geography - beast from the east case study.

Sign up to view the full document!

24/7 Study Help

Stuck on a study question? Our verified tutors can answer all questions, from basic  math  to advanced rocket science !

Similar Documents

working on a study question?

Studypool is powered by Microtutoring TM

Copyright © 2024. Studypool Inc.

Studypool is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university.

Ongoing Conversations

Access over 35 million study documents through the notebank

Get on-demand Q&A study help from verified tutors

Read 1000s of rich book guides covering popular titles

Sign up with Google

Sign up with Facebook

Already have an account? Login

Login with Google

Login with Facebook

Don't have an account? Sign Up

UK Weather Hazards ( AQA GCSE Geography )

Revision note.

Geography Content Creator

Weather Hazards of the UK

Uk's climate.

• The UK has a mild, seasonal climate-cool, wet winters and warm wet summers
• Coastal areas are warmer in winter and cooler in summer 
• Seas take up the heat in the summer, cooling the surrounding land
• During the winter, the heat is released, keeping the coastal land warmer
• Ocean currents bringing warm waters from the Caribbean to the west coast of the UK
• This keeps the west coast of the UK warmer than other regions of the UK
• Large volumes of air with similar water content and temperatures
• Arctic or Polar cold air
• Tropical warm air
• Maritime wet air
• Continental dry air
• Five types of air masses that bring different weather to the UK:

The UK's Air Masses

UK's extreme weather

• Bring very wet and windy with unstable, low-pressure weather
• Depressions form when warm air meets cold air
• Form over the Atlantic Ocean, then move east over the UK
• The strongest winds and heaviest rains are in the autumn due to sea waters releasing summer heat and meeting colder Polar air
• Bring very cold or very hot, stable, high-pressure dry weather
• Also, form over the Atlantic Ocean and move east over the UK
• Winter anticyclones bring long periods of cold, foggy weather
• Summer anticyclones cause periods of hot, dry, clear weather

UK weather hazards

• The UK experiences different weather hazards - rain, wind, heatwaves, thunderstorms, hailstorms, drought, snow and ice

Types of Weather Hazards in the UK

Worked example

State what is meant by extreme weather..

• Weather that is unexpected [1] , unusual [1] , severe [1] , unseasonal [1] , significantly different from the normal pattern [1] not normal to a particular area [1]
• Weather (event) that can cause a threat to life [1]
• Weather (event) that can cause damage (to property) [1]
• No marks for rearranging the wording of the question or for quoting examples of extreme weather
• No marks for saying 'different weather'

Changes in UK Weather

• The UK's weather is becoming more extreme
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that temperatures will increase during this century
• Global warming increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events through increased evaporation and rainfall
• Since the 1980s extreme winter rainfall has increased
• UK temperatures have increased by about 1°C since 1980
• More frequent and heavier  rainstorms, particularly in the autumn 
• Heavy  snowfall
• Unusually cold winters occurred in 2010-11 and 2014-15
• Temperatures fell to -10°C with frost destroying crops and killing livestock
• Over 17,000 trains were cancelled in 2014 due to the freezing conditions and flights were delayed
• The UK is regularly hit by depressions which bring heavy rain to the west coast of the UK
• During the winter of 2013/14 there were prolonged Atlantic storms, with persistent rainfall and gale-force winds
• Causing the Somerset Levels to experience unprecedented flooding 
• Roughly 10% of the area was underwater at the height of the flood
• Over 600 homes and 6880 hectares of agricultural land were flooded, along with a number of villages being cut off through flooded roads 

Case Study: Extreme Weather in the UK

Beast from the east 2018 .

• Began in January 2018 when the stratosphere suddenly warmed
• This generated a large rise in air temperature of around 50°C in an area approximately 29km above the Earth at the North Pole
• This sudden warming weakened the jet stream (which usually brings in the warmer air) and allowed the cold air from western Russia to 'flood' over Europe 
• Schools across the country were closed for up to 3 days
• 10 killed across the country
• Hundreds trapped in their cars on roads and motorways
• The UK issued a gas deficit warning
• Gas supplies were running low and thousands were without power
• NHS cancelled non-urgent operations
• The cost to the UK economy was estimated at least £1bn a day 
• Shops, leisure facilities, theatres, cinemas and restaurants were severely impacted as people were told to stay indoors and not travel
• Trains were stranded on tracks overnight, causing delays for many businesses
• Thousands of businesses without or reduced power causing loss of earnings
• Road closures meant workers and materials couldn't get through, forcing some businesses to close, whilst still accumulating costs
• Farmers lost crops and livestock during the freezing conditions
• 15-20cm of snow fell over 3 days
• Snow drifts of up to 7m in some rural areas of the UK
• Temperatures dropped to -10°C with a wind chill of -22°C in some places
• Wind speeds exceeded 70mph
• Met Office issued Red Warning to stop people travelling
• Government asked businesses to reduce their gas usage, so the country didn’t run out allowing people to have their heating on for longer
• Community centres were opened for those who are homeless to avoid further deaths from exposure to the extreme temperatures
• Snow ploughs gritters and tractors out to clear roads to help people travel again
• Armed forces deployed to rescue drivers and drive NHS workers to work to help the sick and poorly
• Gregg's delivery van driver handed out food to those trapped in their cars to avoid hunger
• Taxi firms provided help to the elderly by bringing shopping and medicines to those in need
• Red Cross issued blankets to people stranded in Glasgow Airport

Which one of the following statements does not describe an extreme weather event in the UK?

• D . A wet winter in western Scotland - this is normal weather in Scotland
• No credit if two or more answers are identified

You've read 0 of your 10 free revision notes

Get unlimited access.

to absolutely everything:

• Downloadable PDFs
• Unlimited Revision Notes
• Topic Questions
• Past Papers
• Model Answers
• Videos (Maths and Science)

Join the 100,000 + Students that ❤️ Save My Exams

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

Did this page help you?

Author: Jacque Cartwright

Jacque graduated from the Open University with a BSc in Environmental Science and Geography before doing her PGCE with the University of St David’s, Swansea. Teaching is her passion and has taught across a wide range of specifications – GCSE/IGCSE and IB but particularly loves teaching the A-level Geography. For the last 5 years Jacque has been teaching online for international schools, and she knows what is needed to pass those pesky geography exams.