Southampton is bracing for a potential cold snap at the beginning of March due to Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) that could bring conditions similar to the Beast from the East.

Extreme cold and winter snow events in recent years have been connected to the surface effects of SSWs, with the most recent one being the 'Beast from the East' in 2018.

According to a Met Office blog posted on Tuesday, February 7 "a major SSW is now likely to take place" this year.

Prof Adam Scaife, Head of Long-Range Forecasting at the Met Office, also said: “There is now over 80% chance of a major SSW occurring.

"Although the impact will become clearer nearer the time, any effect on UK weather is most likely to occur in late February and March.”

Here's what the weather forecast for Southampton is at the moment ahead of the potential SSW.

Southampton weather forecast for early March

At the time of writing the Southampton page on the Met Office website goes up to Monday, March 6 and no snow is forecast yet.

The weather is expected to be overcast for the vast majority of the days, with temperatures reaching 9C maximum on Thursday, March 2.

Most days the temperature is stated to reach a maximum of 7C, although it will feel a few degrees colder than it actually is.

What is Sudden Stratospheric Warming?

An SSW is a rapid warming of the upper atmosphere which can lead to a slowing and reversing of the normal westerly winds in the polar vortex.

Back in February Bournemouth & Poole Weather said: [It] all sounds very complex but what can it mean for us, on occasions this can bring very cold easterly winds to Northern Europe and here in the UK.

"The most recent example of this was the ‘Beast from the East’ back in late Feb 2018 when we had our last proper snow event.

"One of the challenges though is even when an SSW occurs the downstream effects don’t always result in the same outcome and can take several weeks to propagate outwards and impact us.

"So while an SSW is ongoing now there’s absolutely no certainty our weather will turn much cold towards the final week of the month.”