Southend may not be getting any snow as colder weather returns in the coming weeks however the city could be hit by sleet.

According to the Met Office, temperatures are set to start dipping later this month and into early March.

Snow is expected on Saturday, March 4, with London, Suffolk, Norfolk and the South East seeing the heaviest snowfall.

However long range forecasts do not suggest much snow in Essex. Instead, BBC weather has predicted sleet showers will hit Chelmsford and Southend.

Sleet showers are predicted in Southend on Saturday, March 4,  in the morning at around 9am, as temperatures look set to drop to lows of just 2C. 

The experts have also predicted sleet showers on Saturday, February 25, in Chelmsford at around 9am.

This comes as the Met Office has warned that a "major weather event" is likely to hit parts of the UK in the coming weeks.

The forecaster has said a major sudden stratospheric warning (SSW) is “now likely to take place” in late February or early March across the UK.

It was a major SSW which brought the Beast from the East to the UK in 2018, as the country saw 22 inches of snowfall in some places.

However, the Met Office stressed that an SSW does not always equate to a Beast from the East-like weather scenario.

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