THE Beast from the East is set to terrorise Hampshire with temperatures and snow expected to drop.

The Met Office has issued a series of weather warnings urging people the drop in temperatures will increase health risks and disrupt vital public services.

It expects by Wednesday snow to fall in the county due to the decreasing temperature, dubbed the Beast from the East, which is being caused by cold air sweeping in from Siberia.

The Met Office said there is an 80 per cent probability of severe cold weather/icy conditions/heavy snow across the weekend and into next week.

It predicts that temperatures will drop to minus 2°C throughout Hampshire over the weekend, and on Sunday morning it will feel no warmer than minus 7°C.

By Monday morning it will feel like minus 8°C.

The week will continue to get worse, with temperatures dropping as low as minus 10°C in the county.

However, by Thursday, it is predicted that it will begin to get warmer again.

In a statement The Met Office said: “This weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services.

"As the weekend approaches, average temperatures are likely to fall bringing a likelihood of meeting low temperature criteria across all regions. This with mainly fine and dry weather initially until Sunday, where snow showers will become more likely. The cold continental east or southeasterly wind will also become a factor, strengthening enough to give significant wind chill.

“The alert is likely to be reviewed on Friday, and perhaps upgraded and extended further into the new week as the cold weather looks likely to continue.”

A yellow warning has been issued as well for snow in the south east that is due to be in force from 4pm on Monday to 11.55pm on Tuesday.

The warning said: "There is the potential for travel delays on roads, stranding some vehicles a