One year on from Suffolk being blanketed in snow during the Beast from the East part two in 2021, we asked an expert what caused the winter storm and when we might see another one.

How much snow fell during the Beast from the East part two?

Around 30cm of snow fell in Suffolk during the second Beast from the East.

The snowfall closed all the vaccine and testing centres in the county and caused widespread disruption to travel as snow settled on the A14 and A12.

Here is how many people enjoyed the snow:

WATCH: Your funny #SNOWFAILS in Suffolk

What caused the Beast from the East?

The term was coined for Anticyclone Hartmut, a cold wave that hit Britain shortly before the arrival of Storm Emma – bringing a prolonged cold snap lasting from late February into early March.

Zoe Johnson, a meteorologist at East Anglia-based weather forecasters Weatherquest, said: "It was all to do with sudden stratospheric warming. That is a warming event which occurs in the stratosphere and effects the polar vortex over the North Pole.

"When that warms, we are more likely to see winds come from an easterly direction – rather than westerly which is where we predominantly get our weather from.

"The stratospheric warming took place about a month before we actually saw the Beast from the East, which brought cold temperatures and lots of snow."

How much snow fell in the first Beast from the East?

At its harshest in the west of England, the storms – caused by a polar vortex – caused as much as 57cm of snow to fall.

In Suffolk, it caused hundreds of school closures and as many as 900 cancelled train services on the Greater Anglia network on one day alone.

When are we likely to see more wintry weather like it?

Weather experts suggest that we are more likely to see wintry weather around Easter than Christmas.

At the moment, it is not looking like there will be a Beast from the East part three this year.

Temperatures are currently are slightly above average and the general flow of weather is expected to come from the west which generally means relatively mild conditions.

The Met Office's long-range forecast also shows no signs of snow for the south or east of the country over the next month.

What will the weather be like in Suffolk this week?

The weather is expected to be fairly dry this week with variable amounts of sunny spells and cloud forecast from tomorrow, Tuesday, February 8.

Suffolk may see a little bit of rain and colder air on Wednesday which is expected to continue on Thursday and Friday.