The Essex Weather Centre says the arctic blast which has swept through the county does not yet compare to the notorious Beast from the East.

The weather event in 2018 saw much of the country covered in snow and temperatures plummet below freezing, even by day.

Daytime temperatures have also dropped below 0c in Essex in recent days, with yesterday’s highest temperature recorded at -1.5c in Southend.

A spokesman for the weather centre, which warned of the coldest weather of the winter last week, said: “We can’t really compare this to the Beast from the East.

"That was quite a long, sustained period of cold weather so we would need the current spell to go on for quite a while.

“The biggest difference between 2018 and now is the air temperature back then was around -20c, whereas this time it has been more around -13c.

“It has the potential to drop even more than that in coming days, especially with high pressure staying around, but it’s still some way off the Beast from the East.”

The weather centre says Essex has seen up to 25 and 30cm of snow in places in recent days, with Clacton the worst hit.

But most areas have seen several centimetres of the white stuff in recent days. 

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The spokesman added: “This was always going to be the worst case scenario for Essex because it’s always going to get hit by an easterly wind.

“That means we get a lot of weather from Scandinavia which everyone knows is very cold at this time of year.

“Clacton sticks out into the North Sea. We never say guarantee when it comes to weather but we were as certain as we could be it was going to see a lot of snow, along with other coastal parts of Essex.”