Last week a front dubbed the 'Beast from the East' brought icy winds sweeping across the continent. Although Britain was spared the worst of the freezer conditions, temperatures still reached -6 in some parts of the UK.

Now the weather in Siberia is turning even worse. Although winter temperatures can range from -10 to -50 degrees Celcius, the current conditions are seen as particularly severe.

The Siberian population - human and animal - is struggling through the cold snap. In one particularly bizarre instance, trainers at a zoo in the city of Novosibirsk had to give two elephants an emergency swig of vodka to prevent them dying of frostbite and pneumonia.

It appears that this particular Siberian weather pattern is going to stay well away from Britain.