COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD
Temperatures plunging to MINUS 10
BRITAIN is braced for the coldest December on record.
Forecasters say snow will blanket the country next week and the misery will continue until Christmas.
The Big Freeze arrived overnight with temperatures plunging to -10C.
Snow 8in deep is expected in parts of the North and the public should brace themselves for commuter chaos this morning.
Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said: “Today could see falling snow in London, although unlikely to settle, with a couple of centimetres in showers in East Anglia and East Midlands.
“The north-east has 20cm of snow shown on forecast models for the North York Moors.” And he went on to warn last night: “The coldest air of the year is coming in. This morning or tonight will probably beat the -6.3C coldest temperature of the season.”
Temperatures in the North could plummet to -7C daytime today with Scotland said to have crashed to -10C overnight, the coldest this year.
The closest village to the North Pole, just 500 miles away on the polar bear inhabited Arctic island of Svalbard, was only due lows of -5C.
Britain faces its biggest test of winter resources for at least five years, experts warned yesterday.
A fleet of council 2,000 gritter lorries was put on standby last night to be deployed “at a moment’s notice”.
Network Rail is using thermal-imaging helicopters and empty “ghost trains” running all night to keep train lines warm and clear of snow and ice.
Councils have stockpiled 1.5million tonnes of salt for the chilly weeks ahead.
But problems will only get worse as next week is set to be just as bitterly cold with even more snow forecast.
Channel 4 weatherman Liam Dutton said: “This week looks cold, and next week is cold again, with a greater chance of snow.”
Bookmakers Coral have slashed odds on it being the coldest December ever recorded in the UK to just 2-1.
The odds on Britain waking up to a white Christmas this year have already tumbled to 4-6.