AdvertisementCrowds enjoying New Year's Eve celebrations across Britain tonight can expect dry and mild weather as the clocks strike midnight - before temperatures plunge at the start of 2019. The cold spell dubbed 'the Beast from the East' was caused by a jump in temperatures high over the Arctic, known as 'sudden stratospheric warming'. Severe conditions that hit Britain early this year were described by the Met Office as a 'cocktail of weather events'. This leads to high pressure over the North Atlantic, blocking the usual flow of mild air that flows into Britain from the west. 'Cold air will be stuck over the UK.

Source: Daily Mail December 31, 2018 10:52 UTC