More cold on cards

Strong north-easterly winds which have swept the country since Sunday are filtering south to the usually mild climes of southern France and northern Italy, where snow has fallen at low levels for the first time in five years.

But while Britain can wave goodbye by the end of the week to this current spell of sub-zero temperatures, history shows that March can bring further snow storms - a foot of snow has even been known to fall at the end of April - and scientists predict that the weakening North Atlantic drift will mean colder winters in the future.

Temperatures are recovering from overnight lows of -4C, which could have been mistaken for much colder because the wind chill factor meant it felt more like -15C, and are creeping up to just above freezing.

By tomorrow or Friday the impact of the depression which came across the Atlantic last Saturday will have lifted and temperatures returning to the seasonal norm, with the snow which has covered much of the country clearing and giving way to rain in the North and West.

The strong north-easterly winds have also coincided with some very high spring tides down the eastern side of the country, all the way from the Humber southwards, as well as coastal flooding.