Hello geographers, my name's Mrs. Homagio and I'm going to be teaching you today.

I hope you're gonna enjoy the lesson and learn lots.

Let's get started.

Today's lesson looks at a recent example of extreme weather in the UK and we are going to look at the Beast from the East in 2018.

You are gonna understand its location, the causes, impacts and management strategies that were associated with the Beast from the East extreme weather event in the UK.

There are four key words for today's lesson.

Extreme weather when a weather event is significantly different from an average or usual weather pattern.

Social impacts, the effect of an event on the wellbeing and quality of life of individuals and communities.

Economic impacts, the effect of an event on the financial conditions of an area.

For example, employment, income and investment.

Risk, the likelihood of a hazardous event occurring and the potential impact or consequences it may have on people, property and the environment.

There are three learning cycles for today's lesson.

The first, what caused the Beast from the East? The second, what were the impacts on the UK? And the third, how has it managed to reduce risk? Let's start on our first learning cycle.

The Beast from the East was an extreme weather event that affected the UK in late February and early March 2018, and it was characterised by low temperatures, heavy snow and strong winds resulting in widespread disruption.

You may well have an experience of the Beast from the East that you want to share or discuss with each other.

Winters in the UK are generally mild compared to some places on the same latitude.

This is mainly because of the Gulf Stream, an ocean current that transports warmer water from lower latitude towards the UK and it warms the air mass above it.

It's known as the tropical maritime air mass.

However, in February 2018, a meteorological event called stratospheric warming caused a change in atmospheric conditions above the Arctic and this disrupted the usual pattern of weather for the UK.

Instead of the warm air coming to the UK from the west via the tropical maritime air mass, instead, cold air moved across from the east via the polar continental air mass.

Which air mass brought cold air from Russia, which led to the Beast from the East? Was it A, polar continental? B, tropical maritime? Or C, tropical continental? Think carefully and come back when you have your answer.

Did you say polar continental? Well done.

Air move from the East from Russia.

When the air mass left Russia, it was around minus 50 degrees Celsius.

By the time it reached the UK, it was just below freezing, but that was still much colder than normal for the UK.

The air mass picked up water as it travelled over the North Sea, which resulted in heavy snowfall when it reached the UK.

And this had a big impact, as we can see along the northeast coast.

Temperatures dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius and areas experienced wind chills of down to minus 22 degrees Celsius.

Storm Emma was a low pressure weather system moving north to the UK from the warmer areas of the Atlantic Ocean.

Now in normal conditions, it would've brought strong winds and rainfall.

However, on the 1st of March in 2018, Storm Emma met the cold air brought down by the Beast from the East and as a result, we had heavy snowfall, blizzards and freezing rain.

Red weather warnings for extreme weather were issued for the southwest of England and up to 50 centimetres of snow fell over areas of Exmoor and Dartmoor in the southwest.

So these were conditions that were totally different to normal in the UK.

True or false? Storm Emma was the main cause of the Beast from the East extreme weather event.

Pause a video and decide which you think it is.

Hopefully you said false, but why? See if you can justify your decision.

You might have said something like, although Storm Emma was responsible for extreme weather, bringing heavy snow blizzards and freezing rain, that only happened because storm Emma met the cold air mass from the Beast from the East.

Well done if you managed to answer that question.

Task A for you, then, two questions.

When did the Beast from the East affect the UK? It's really important to remember place specific detail when we're looking at an an actual example.

Number two, annotate this map to show the causes and location of this recent extreme weather event in the UK.

You might want to include direction of air mass, description of the air mass and note the areas that were severely affected.

Pause the video and have a go at these two questions.

For question number one, did you put late February and March 2018? Well done.

For question number two, annotate this map to show the causes and location of this recent extreme weather event in the UK.

Your map might have looked something like this.

Polar continental air mass brought cold air from Russia, which led to heavy snow as the air mass picked up moisture travelling over the North Sea.

Low pressure air mass brought storm Emma, wet and windy weather.

But as it met the cold air from the north, we got blizzards, gales and heavy snow in the southwest of the UK.

Well done if you are mapped up similar to this one.

Right, second learning cycle, what were the impacts on the UK? The extreme weather of the Beast from the East had social impacts, economic impacts and environmental impacts.

A summary of these impacts can be seen in this table and we're going to look at each of these in a little bit more detail over the next few slides.

Before we go any further, can you do this quick check, match the correct definition to the key term.

Which of these definitions correctly describes social impacts, economic impacts and environmental impacts? Pause the video and have a go.

So did you correctly identify that social impacts affect or the effects of an event on the wellbeing and quality of life of individuals and communities? Economic impacts are the effect of an event on the financial conditions of an area, e.

g.

employment, income and investment.

And finally, environmentally impacts the effect of an event on the natural ecosystem.

Well done.

So the social impacts of the Beast from the East.

10 people died.

A thousand schools across the country closed for up to three days.

The NHS postponed non-urgent operations and some rural towns and villages were cut off for days and faced difficulties getting food supplies due to the heavy snow making transports so difficult.

Hundreds were stranded in cars, on roads and motorways and there were a lot of road traffic accidents.

The AA estimated over 8,000 collisions, particularly bad was the A1 in Northumberland where we received the heavy snow from the east.

And emergency services struggled with the increase in demand and it made it difficult for them to get to people to help out as it was needed.

Economic impacts so affecting income, investment, employment.

So the overall cost of the UK economy was averaged at a 1 billion pounds a day due to the closed businesses and the commuters being unable to get to work.

So a massive impact on the economy.

The retail sector, so things like shops and restaurants face losses because people were advised to stay indoors and avoid travel or probably couldn't travel.

And thousands of businesses experienced power cuts because of the heavy snow bringing down power cables.

British Airways cancelled hundreds of short-haul flights from airports like Heathrow.

And stranded lorries and trains led to delays in resource distribution that affected many businesses.

They couldn't get to where they needed to be.

Environmental impacts.

Freezing conditions made it very difficult for farmers to get to their livestock to look after them.

There was a short-term decline in woodland bird numbers because they couldn't get food.

Their habitats were affected and breeding delay was delayed because of the harsh conditions.

Hundreds of thousands of lobsters, starfish crabs and other creatures washed up dead or dying on beaches on the UK's eastern coast.

So it wasn't just affecting people on land, it was marine life as well.

Snow melt and heavy rain caused widespread flooding across the UK, including the southwest of England and New Yorkshire.

Check for you now.

Which of the following effects of the Beast from the East are correctly described here? A, short-term decline in woodland birds due to food scarcity and habitat loss.

The AA estimated there were 8,000 major incidents on the A1 in Northumberland.

Flooding risks across southwest England only.

And 1,000 schools across the country closed for up to three days.

Pause the video and decide which you think are correct.

Did you say A and D? If so, well done.

So B, it was 8,000 incidents, not just major ones.

And the flooding risks were across a large proportion of the UK, including the southwest of England.

For a second task for you now, can you categorise these impacts into social, economic, and environmental? The first one has been done for you.

So read through them carefully and decide which you think they are, a social impact, an economic impact, or an environmental one.

Pause the video and come back when you've had a go.

Did your answers look like this? Widespread flooding hazards was an environmental impact.

Lorries were unable to make deliveries to businesses as an economic impact.

The cost to the UK economy was estimated at 1 billion a day, an economic impact.

A thousand schools across the country closed, a social impact.

British Airways cancelling flights, an economic impact.

Short-term decline in woodland bird populations, an environmental impacts.

And 10 people losing their lives, a social impact.

If so, well done.

Moving on now to the third part of this lesson.

How was it managed to reduce risk? Here's a summary of how the UK managed the Beast from the East.

They gave out weather warnings and public information.

They managed the transport.

They looked at energy conservation and they provided shelter and support for vulnerable people.

We're going to look at each of these now in a little bit more detail.

Weather warnings and public information.

The Met Office issued early and frequent weather warnings using the highest red level alerts in the southwest of the UK and amber alerts in other at-risk areas.

This informed people of severe risks and it guided them as to how to react to this and how to cope so that they weren't affected too badly.

And it largely encouraged people not to travel unless it was absolutely necessary.

Media channels and social media were used to keep the public informed.

They were updated regularly on hazardous areas, on road closures, weather changes, and how best to look after yourself.

Transport management.

4,000 gritters and snowploughs were deployed across the UK with the main aim to keep transport routes open, to make roads safe for the use of emergency vehicles, for the use of resource distribution and to help people move about safely.

The military was employed to rescue stranded drivers, so to support the emergency services and also help transport people to work for essential services like the NHS.

Some flights were rerouted, so those going to Leeds Bradford were redirected to Liverpool and train and bus services were adjusted to minimise those risks.

Energy conservation.

So the National grid issued a gas deficit warning, which encouraged large businesses to reduce their gas usage and this was to ensure that there was enough to supply essential services and heat people's homes.

And in addition to this, the government encouraged households just to be mindful of how they used energy to try to stabilise the supply when there was a peak demand.

Shelters and support for vulnerable people.

Organisations like the Red Cross provided blankets, camp beds and food to people who were stranded.

And this is an image of Glasgow Airport where all flights were grounded and so people needed to be looked after within the terminals.

Local authorities open community centres and public spaces to allow homeless people to come in from the cold and to be a place where people could go if they felt they needed support.

And there was a real community effort.

So people worked together to look after neighbours and friends who they knew were vulnerable by collecting food, by clearing driveways and supporting each other.

A check for you now.

Which of these statements are accurate descriptions of ways in which the UK managed the Beast from the East? A, approximately 4,000 gritters and snowploughs were deployed across the UK.

B, the Met Office issued a red weather warning across the whole of the country.

And C, local authorities and organisations like the Red Cross helped vulnerable people.

Pause the video and decide which ones you think are accurate.

Did you tick A and C? Well done.

The Met Office did issue a red weather warning, but only in certain areas of the UK with the other areas getting amber warnings.

The Beast from the East had a severe impact on the UK and following it, there were big discussions about how to improve our winter preparedness such as better snow clearance, better public communication of weather warnings, and improving our infrastructure.

These longer term responses are aiming to reduce the risk and improve our resilience to potential future events like this.

Some experts have linked the Beast from the East to the increased risk of extreme weather as a result of climate change.

A check for you now.

Can you complete this spider diagram outlining the main ways the UK manage the risks posed by the Beast from the East? Pause the video and have a go.

Did your spider diagram include weather warnings and public information, transport management, energy conservation, and shelter and support for vulnerable people? You might have chosen to add a few more details, but if you've got those main ideas, that's fantastic.

Final task of the lesson for you now.

Question number one.

Give two examples of how effective management of the Beast from the East in the UK reduce the risks.

Lucas has got a good point here.

This is about a real extreme weather event in the UK, so I must try to include specific details about it in my answer.

And question number two.

Suggest two ways that the UK could improve its winter preparedness as extreme weather events become more frequent.

Pause the video and have a go.

Your first answer might have included, the Met Office issued a red weather warning for the southwest and amber warnings across many other areas of the country.

This warned people of the hazardous conditions and advised them not to travel, but to take precautions if travel was necessary, reducing the risk of accidents.

Approximately 4,000 gritters were deployed across the UK to clear roads and make them safer for drivers.

This reduced the risk of collisions and also reduced the risk of emergency services being unable to respond quickly.

And for your second answer you might have put, to improve winter preparedness in the UK, the government should improve infrastructure.

For example, the amount of gas that can be stored so that there isn't a risk of homes and businesses not being able to be heated.

Another way to be better prepared for extreme weather events involving heavy snowfall would be to invest in better snow clearing technology.

Few managed to get similar answers to these for both of the questions, that's fantastic.

Well done.

Onto the summary of our lesson today.

The Beast from the East was an extreme weather event in the UK in 2018.

It was caused by a cold air mass moving east to west across the UK, bringing freezing temperatures and heavy snow.

The arrival of storm Emma from the southwest contributed to the extreme weather conditions, particularly in the south England.

The Beast from the East had social impacts, economic impacts and environmental impacts as businesses and schools shut.

Management to reduce the risk of this extreme weather happened at national and local level.

For example, the Met Office issued weather warnings and local authorities supported vulnerable people.

Well done.

Hopefully now, you're able to talk confidently about an example of a recent extreme weather event in the UK using the Beast from the East.

Well done today and I look forward to seeing you again soon.