and wales, with rain and hill snow clearing towards the east, brighter conditions feeding in for western england and wales. for northern ireland and scotland, a scattering of showers, particularly for north—east scotland, which could fall as snow, even at lower levels. a chilly but bright start to the day on easter day. easter day is probably the best of the weekend. a few scattered showers in the north. turning cloudy from the south—west with wet and windy weather moving into england, but the winds will be lighter than we have seen over the previous days. we move overnight into easter monday, we have this area of low pressure and the next weather front moving up from the south—west. that is going to collide with some cold air, so it brings the potential to see some disruptive snow, mainly falling as rain across the south. anywhere from wales and the midlands northwards may see some disruptive snow. the far north of scotland will see some drier weather. there is a bit of uncertainty with the detail on the snow at the moment, so if you are travelling anywhere, stay tuned to the local forecast

and we will keep you up—to—date. hello, good morning. this is bbc news — our latest headlines... tighter rules on police bail have led to thousands of suspects in violent and sexual offences being released without conditions — new regulations on pre—charge bail came into effect in england and wales last year. the us has said it may take further action against russia following the expulsion of 60 american diplomats — moscow said countries that remove russian officials could expect a "symmetrical" response. a group of labour mps has urged jeremy corbyn to suspend former disputes panel chair christine shawcroft from the party's national executive committee, as the row over anti—semitism continues. and personal details from 150 million users of popular health app my fitness pal have been accessed in a major data breach. now on bbc news...

weather world. the team discover how meteorology has helped to shape the royal air force, which is celebrating 100 years since its formation. this time we are marking 100 years of the royal perforce. and where better than here at raf brize norton? nick and i have been finding out about high ground operations work with air traffic control in times of severe weather to keep this crucial airbase operational. and i will be in norfolk sharing some of my experiences of being an operational forecaster at an raf base. also, crippling cold, uk and of europe falls victim to the beast from the east. freak freeze... of europe falls victim to the beast from the east. freakfreeze... the flood that turned to ice. how a

weather disaster can strike as if from nowhere. the storms that can sweep you off your feet. but some people dry to carry on regardless! this year marks the centenary of the raf, we've come to its largest station at raf brize norton in 0xfordshire, home to almost 6000 service personnel. the aircraft based here support british military operations around the globe, it's surprisingly busy with frequent landings, departures and training manoeuvres. a lot of what happens in

the military airport like this is very different from a commercial airport but some things are the same. eric traffic control is the hub of all activity and that is first sarah is now. i'm here with simon who is in charge of all air traffic control here and tell me, why is it so important brize norton stays open all year round? we are home to the raf strategic and tactical air transport fleet. we are also the gateway to operations across the world. that's to say delivering whether its troops, cargo or disaster relief as we saw at the end of 2017 in the caribbean. meteorology and aviation will always be intrinsically linked, how do you get your weather information here? we are very lucky in the fact that we have our own met office, they passed the weather information across to hear in traffic control via fax, would you believe, this is translated into our local systems reference by controllers. you get

this fax with coded weather information how is the weather looking out there today? looking pretty good out there at the moment, forecasting 30 kilometres with no weather phenomenon, a clay base of 2800 base and positive temperatures plus 11. how about a lizard that the operations you get a detailed weather forecast? -- how important is it. it is vital that we pass accurate information on to pilots transiting through. it's notjust pilots that need to be prepared, but we all need to be ready for whatever the weather throws at us. bitterly cold weather over the past few days coming from siberia, the beast from the east as it's been cold... are you ready for the beast from the east with weather predicted to be colder than the arctic. spring on hold, early march, a winter bite

back wings much of the uk to a standstill in the coldest, snowiest weather since 2010. my god! in scotland, some traffic keeps moving... but onlyjust. in wales, the snow blows into drifts so in wales, the snow blows into drifts so deep it buries cars. cold siberian air with widespread snow puts britain in much of a freeze. producing the coldest march day on record. this is going to be tricky andi record. this is going to be tricky and i don't think i've got enough traction to pull the car through. what are you going to do? go home and have a cup of tea. that is the answer. some railway lines were overwhelmed. this driver's i view shows what for now is the end of the line. so what caused the so—called

beast from the east? the answer can beast from the east? the answer can be found in the stratosphere, i above the arctic, for the normal flow of their week and allowing air to descend and worn by as much as 50 degrees. this is sudden stratospheric warming. but it also impacted the jet stream, reversing it from its usual westerly to an easterly flow, resulting in bitterly cold airfrom siberia carrying across much of europe. few places escaped. in italy, rome gets its biggest snowfall in decades, covering the city's landmarks. cue a maths noble fight in saint peter's squirt next to the vatican, even priestsjoined in! but even before the beast from the east winter in europe have produced some snowy surprises. this is moscow in february, after its heaviest one—day snowfall on record. 38 centimetres,

more than half what the city would normally get in an entire month. in january unusually heavy snowfall hits parts of africa to, this is morocco. this note even reached the edge of the sahara desert in algeria. it does get cold here, but there is rarely enough moisture for any precipitation! winter white out in iran, as the capital tehran is blanketed with heavy snow in january, much welcome moisture here offering some brief drought relief. can you believe this is tallahassee, florida? we are getting snow. no we can't, but it is, injanuary it's the first measurable snow here in merely three decades. more familiar territory for a winter storm, the north—east usa, several of them in march and this one gave the city of

boston it's snowiest march day on record. this storm that struck at the start of the year was stopped a bomb cyclone, hitting boston was not just wind, snow, but a three foot flooding and storm surge. then this. after the flood, the big freeze, and astonishing scenes as frozen floodwater into miss cars in ice. back to the beast from the east. this video shows the huge effort at raf brize norton to keep the runway openin raf brize norton to keep the runway open in the face of prolonged snowfall, blowing around and drifting in the wind. some commercial airports succumb to the severe weather closing the crucial ru nway severe weather closing the crucial runway here is never an option. sergeant natasha watkins, you were here on duty during and before the beast from the east, when did you first hear it was coming? so the met office that we have based here gave

us office that we have based here gave usa office that we have based here gave us a warning on tuesday of the beast from the east was coming thursday. we spent some time checking the manpower, checking the operational aircraft, which priority they would take, making sure the equipment was ready. kind of all the things you plan for without it actually happening. it must have been an amazing few days. it was, yes. you are laughing about it, this was an experience. it was, incredible. why wasn't so valuable to your team is going through that and dealing with that cold and snow? so, they carry out training every prior to the season out training every prior to the seasonis out training every prior to the season is starting and it's a dry run. you don't really get to use it in anger until something like the beast from this comes in. do you actually like snort yourself? everybody says i may have weather person, i really like it. —— do you actually like snow yourself? this is one of the plaza was operational.

sarah is up in the cab. i've got prime position, and there is a fleet of eight of these vehicles here at brize norton. i'm with pete, one of the men involved in keeping the field open in all types of weather, it's been quite a busy winter for you? really busy this year. in the beast from the east affected us, we had these vehicles out for 56 hours, constantly, up and down the runway, maintaining it, keeping it open. you can control all the elements of the beagle from the cab? this computer controls the snow plough, the britos in the middle, the blower at the back. shall we hop out and you can show me? great. we saw how it is controlled in the cab, talk me through the equipment down here on the ground, starting at the front. the plough, the idea is it pushes the snow out all the way, they

should in the direction of the wind, pushing it to the left of the right. further down, what's the next? the brochures brush the snow, what's left after the plough is brushed the si'iow away, left after the plough is brushed the snow away, there will be a layer of snow, the brushes break it up, they should in the same direction as the snowplough, at the back, the blowers, it blows all the excess liquid or slush away from the field again in the same direction. thank you for explaining all bad, a little bit later we'll be talking to your traffic control to see how their teams work with this team to deal with the beast from the east. 20 yea rs with the beast from the east. 20 years ago i began my weather career atan raf years ago i began my weather career at an raf base and what to forecast foran at an raf base and what to forecast for an aircraft like the tornado and find me. i've come here to find out how the rules of meteorology had changed. i've come inside to the met office at raf marham, the forecasters are watching the

weather, making the documents, much like they used to do when i started to weather forecast, it's all for people such as this, squadron leader jim furness, who has 3000 hours of flying under his belt with the tornado. we were at cromwell at the same time. right from the start, but euro at a formed a big part of the training. it's a key, basic skill, every aviator learns during basic training. when we were back at cromwell in the day, the forecast was generally the same, the livered on acetate slides, technology moving forward now it's delivered through computer but fundamentally it's still the same sort of forecast, delivering a concise, clear picture to aviators and what weather conditions they can expect during training. you have flown the tornado and lancaster, how has the situation changed as far as using the weather forecast? lancaster is a precious aircraft, one of two flying the

world, we need to make sure we don't expose it to adverse weather conditions. it doesn't have equipment on board to help us actively read the weather in the way the tornado can, we have to be very careful about conditions we expose it to. eyeballing the pilots, always a bit more fresher to forecast for the lancaster. we'll come back to you later, we look at different ways the weather is being tackled, join us the weather is being tackled, join us later in the programme, to see the novel ways the raf used to forecast, especially during the second world war. now some of your pictures. few places escape the snow which blanketed large parts of the british isles, the situation made worse, blowing into drifts by the bitterly cold easterly wind. it wasn't just snow, there bitterly cold easterly wind. it wasn'tjust snow, there was also freezing rain. this is when supercooled raindrops freeze insta ntly to supercooled raindrops freeze instantly to anything they touch, the result, a layer of glazed eyes which makes for some of the most

beautiful but a hazardous winter weather there is. you can become a weather there is. you can become a weather watcher by signing up online at... still to come, fighting for, how the raf cleared the air to keep flying. plus a look at how technology in the tornado are clap behind me as radically improved landing conditions in the raf. we are back at raf brize norton, we saw earlier all the work that was done to keep this important military airport opened during the cold spell, the so—called beast from the east. how do they know whether the runway is safe to take off or land on? this is such an important piece of kit, it's cold a new meter and corporal natalie adams is with me to tell me what it was. it's designed to test the friction on the runway. we will

get the laptop readings. how does it work? we will put the pouille down on the back. there it goes. and that's fed through wires into the vehicle through to the laptop. that's how we will get the readings. clearly nothing wrong with the friction on the runway but are going to give it a training run, let's get in and see it in action. time to put it through its paces, on a taxiway, shone driving us, head off when you are ready. here we go. what will happen? we will test the friction of the runway. we are curtly getting up to five miles an hour as quickly as possible. —— we are currently. we will get the correct readings. accurate readings. the pouille is down. yes stop that is where we get the readings from. we are ready for ali0 the readings from. we are ready for

a a0 miles an hour emergency stop, when you are ready. yes! ifelt a a0 miles an hour emergency stop, when you are ready. yes! i felt bad, safely done. we have done the start, what are you looking for in terms of readings? -- i felt bad. we will get readings, zero points seven is a good reading, anything below that means the friction on the runway isn't very good, we would have to look at why, is advice, do we need to start the icing? that's weather science from here at the service, sarah has some more from a long way up sarah has some more from a long way up in the sky. you'll often hear meteorologists talking about the jet strea m meteorologists talking about the jet stream but what is it? how are they formed unavoidably important? ajet strea m formed unavoidably important? ajet stream is a fast—moving, narrow ribbon of a high up in the atmosphere, about six miles above our heads. jet streams are formed at the boundary of two amasses, for the insta nce the boundary of two amasses, for the instance in the north atlantic cold polarair instance in the north atlantic cold polar air meets milder subtropical air, yet thejet

polar air meets milder subtropical air, yet the jet stream typically flows from west to east, down to the easterly rotation of the earth and the resulting effect, jet streams can be thousands of miles long, can travel at speeds of more than 200 miles an hour, they have a dramatic affect on air travel, depending whether you are travelling with or against thejet whether you are travelling with or against the jet stream, flight times and fuel consumption can be dramatically affected. what about the weather? jet stream is don't a lwa ys the weather? jet stream is don't always flow in a straight line, we see ripples and buckles in the streams and white small—scale ripples can lead to rapidly evening of depression is for us big meanders mean some areas can see successful weather systems, for as other parts of the world and see quieter weather with a blocking area of high pressure. observing and predicting the behaviour of jet streams pressure. observing and predicting the behaviour ofjet streams is the most vital tool for a weather forecaster. a strong jet stream drove powerful atlantic weather systems into europe injanuary. the

driver of the skara brae a flooded seafront road in ireland as storm eleanor arrived with winds of up to 100 miles an hour. another storm brought a cross northern europe in january, literally blowing people off their feet january, literally blowing people off theirfeet in january, literally blowing people off their feet in the netherlands. many were caught off—guard, despite the highest level of weather warning for wind. this roof was no match for some of the most powerful winds ever recorded here. the storm killed several people in the netherlands and germany. in a french capital paris, weeks of heavy rain sent the river seine soaring again, it was the wettest december and january hearing 50 years. moss slides search through neighborhoods in the usa, this southern california injanuary. torrential rain poured on ground and scorched and cleared of vegetation by the state's largest wildfire in history, the mutt had nowhere to go

and nothing to hold it back. more than 20 people were killed in the devastation that followed. tropical cyclones continued to run the pacific. in february tonga is in the firing line of cyclone giza, the worst to hit the country since moderate weather records began 60 yea rs moderate weather records began 60 years ago. among the casualties and widespread destruction, the more than century—old parliament building. in australia injanuary izmir record summer heat that is making the headlines as temperatures in sydney top a7 celsius. and in south africa, unprecedented drought ta kes south africa, unprecedented drought takes cape town closer to becoming the world's first major city to run out of water. every day without rain ta kes out of water. every day without rain takes the a million people who live here closer to the day the tabs run dry. brazil in february, the eerie sight of a forest trail completely

submerged by water. the flood subsided almost as quickly as it came but it produced scenes that looked like they came from another world. continuous lines of petrol burners are at the vital feature of fog investigation dispersal operations or in raf pal lance, operation fido. how they tackled the weather elements in the raf has changed, today we could never imagine this but during the second world war the problem of fog was met by this unusual solution, fido. the public should know fido, in this war, has served over 10,000 aircrew lives. —— has said. it has made it possible to carry out operations in weather which would have stopped all flying in the past. first operational user fido was in edinburgh a3. in the past. first operational user fido was in edinburgh 43. when

low—lying fog made it unsafe aircraft to land they were diverted to fido enabled are fields, gas filled lanes running alongside the base will be set ablaze, the heat burning away the fog, giving pilots clear sight of the runways. that system contained 500,000 gallons of petrol in full, costing thousands every time it was deployed. such costly measures would never be used these days. at the base we have an infra—red camera... these days. at the base we have an infra-red camera... as the squadron leader explains aviation technology in planes such as the tornado has moved on. it's designed as an all—weather capable aircraft and to help us fly at low altitude we have eight to rain falling radar housed in the nose, that will scan the front of the aircraft, reading the terrain, combining with the autopilot it allows the aircraft to fly at low altitude at any height we desire in any weather imaginable. may have changed - we

technology may have changed but we have the same a - of ways, we deal with fog? a couple of ways, we can either use assistance from the ground, beard air—traffic control, a precision approach raider, they will talk you back down, instrument landing system, which is common across multiple types of aircraft, the pilot follows steering commands, back down to the runway, the final option with this is when we combine radar, my skills as a radar operator from the back—seat, pilots and flying skills. if we can't see the ground or the runway by a set height, 200 feet, at that point we are going to go around and fly off toa are going to go around and fly off to a diversion. squadron leader, thank you. going to be a dull and wet start to the day... it's not just how we deal with the weather that has changed over the years but also how it looks on screens, computers and mobile phones. the

busy weather's appearance has come a long way since the first television forecast more than 60 years ago. that's the picture this morning. watch out for eyes. and interbreed, another new look was unveiled. simon hunt is the creative director, talk us hunt is the creative director, talk us through what viewers can expect to see with new graphics. they will notice the map looks different, high—resolution, it's green, goal in closer, you can see high—resolution data for the weather. we have the ability to show a 3—d globe which the presenters can move around quite easily to create the editorial story they want to tell. we were looking beyond the clouds at the end of january as parts of the world marvelled at an extremely rare celestial event, a super blue blood moon, superb because it was a full moon, when the moon is at its closest to the earth, making it appear larger than usual, blue because of the second full moon of

the month, that's where the phrase for a very infrequent event, once in a blue moon comes from and blood but the main's reddish colour during a total lu nar the main's reddish colour during a total lunar eclipse. it's the first time these elements have combined since 1866. not quite as rare but it's still six years since people have been able to do this, skate on amsterdam's frozen canals. and finally, another snowstorm in boston, usa, this is a man dressed as else from the disney film frozen, pushing a fully struck, let it go! # the cold never bothered me anyway. >> that set from ask. you can find clips on the website. until then, we will be back later in the year, until then, keep checking the forecast! hallow. they love going on in the

weather through easter weekend, fairly unsettled. —— hello. we will see some spells of rain. also some snow in the forecast. particularly easter monday, the potentialfor disruption, feeling fairly cool, temperatures struggling to get above average, there will be some sunny spells at times. here is the raider from this morning. you see some scattered showers, some wintry in the north, starting division from the north, starting division from the south. the sign of things to

come. southern england and wales turning cloudy with rain, the odd rumble of thunder not out of the question, for northern ireland, northern england, southern scotland, showery outbreaks, someone treat over higher ground, some showers in the northern for these to scotland, falling snow. temperatures a maximum of 10 degrees, cold easterly wind in the north. going through this evening and overnight, staying cloudy with outbreaks of rain, falling as snow for a time over the pennines, northern ireland and scotland, a fair amount of cloud, perhaps some showers as well, particularly for eastern scotland, here spells for the west, some frost possible. the weather dominated by the area of low pressure through today and tomorrow, ageing eastwards, this front bringing a fairamount of eastwards, this front bringing a fair amount of cloud across england and wales, fabrics of rain until snow, clearing slowly to the east as we move through the day for western parts of england and wales. northern

ireland, scotland, there are amount of cloud, some brighter into bills in the west, still the chance of showers especially for north—east scotland, some falling as snow to lower levels. chilly but right start on easter day, looking like the best day of the weekend, lots of dry and bright weather, some snow showers in the south of high ground, turning cloudy from the south—west, wet and windy weather pitching in. temperatures in maximum of 9 degrees. moving into easter monday, the weather front continuing to work its way from the south—west, the moisture alighting with cold air, bringing the chance of some snow, could cause disruption, largely falling as rain in the south, anywhere north of wales in the midlands, the southern scotland could cease no and accumulations over the hills. a bit drier in the far north. —— cooed see snow and icky munitions. the potentialfor disruption. if you are travelling, stay tuned to the forecast. this is bbc news.

the headlines at ten: thousands of crime suspects, some involving murder and rape, are being released without any conditions because of new bail rules. the failure to use bail conditions in many cases means that the victim can be vulnerable to being contacted, to being stalked, harassed or even suffering further violence. america says moscow has no justification for its tit—for—tat expulsion of 60 diplomats, as the daughter of the poisoned russian spy regains consciousness. nearly a0 labour mps and peers call onjeremy corbyn to suspend a senior official at the centre of the latest row about anti—semitism. personal details of 150 million

users of a popular online fitness programme are compromised by a data security breach. also in the next hour: senior staff at some academy trusts are accused of taking "unjustifiably" high salaries.