MARCH may be just around the corner but East Lancashire has not seen the last of bitterly cold wintry weather just yet.

Britain will be gripped by a potentially-lengthy cold snap as sudden stratospheric warming looks poised to cause temperatures to tumble.

Forecasters have warned that the meteorological event has disturbed the jet stream — allowing chilly winds from Eastern Europe to blast the UK — and could last well into March.

It is being called the 'Beast from the East' and will see temperatures plunge as low as -4C by Wednesday in Blackburn and -5C in Burnley.

Describing sudden stratospheric warming, Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said it was caused by a huge rise in air temperature in an area around 18 miles (30 km) above the North Pole.

He said: "There is a very big, very cold pool of air that circulates around the North Pole — sudden stratospheric warming, as it says on the tin, is when the stratosphere suddenly warms.

"Last week we saw that take place, a sudden jump of around 50C, so that can disturb the way that cold pool of air moves around the North Pole very high up.

"That can lead in around 70% of instances to it impacting the drivers that affect our weather in northern Europe as well.

"So what we are seeing in this case is it disturbing the jet stream and weakening the jet stream."

This, he said, will see the usual wet and windy conditions ushered out, and will allow high pressure to "build and dominate" over northern Europe.

Mr Claydon said sudden stratospheric warming and its impact on British weather is "not a yearly occurrence but is not unheard of", and last impacted the UK in 2013 and 2009.

The Met Office also said there could be some frosty nights, and warned that into next week even colder air from Russia could move across the country.

But the forecasters said that although the risk of snow is very low this week, due to the dry nature of the air, this could change after the weekend.

Dr Thomas Waite, of Public Health England's extreme events team, urged people to check on friends, family and neighbours during the cold snap, and to make sure their homes are heated to at least 18C.

He said: "With the days feeling a little longer and lighter it can be easy to forget that cold weather can still kill.

"Over 65s, those with conditions like heart and lung diseases and young children, are all at particular risk in cold weather as their bodies struggle to cope when temperatures fall."