© PAA snow plough at work on the A66 in County Durham yesterday
Snow left parts of Britain under a carpet of white yesterday with the country braced for a Big Freeze.
Just as the devastating floods of recent weeks start to recede Arctic winds threaten to sweep in next week bringing ice, harsh frosts and wintry showers.
The mercury is expected to plunge below freezing across the UK with regions left sodden after the relentless rain now facing new misery.
Bitterly cold winds threaten to send temperatures plunging to -10C (14F) in the North while the South will shiver in lows of -4C (25F).
Forecasters warned that up to four inches of snow could fall over high ground in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. High pressure responsible for the cold snap could remain for weeks with the chill lasting until spring.
Jonathan Powell, forecaster for Vantage Weather Services, said: "People haven't felt the cold so far as it has been mild so they should prepare for a shock to the system.
"It is going to get gradually colder from the weekend before taking a real plunge by the middle of next week. There is a significant threat of snow across the UK.
"There is still a battle going on between warm air from the West and a freezing mass from Siberia - which looks like winning out."
In County Durham, a snow plough took to the roads yesterday to deal with a blanket of white deposited by wintry showers.
The Met Office warned it was set to turn colder overnight with temperatures hovering around freezing.
It issued a severe weather warning for ice in the South-east this morning as roads turn deadly.
It said: "Large amounts of standing water remain on the ground following recent wet weather.
"This will result in icy stretches forming in places, despite only small amounts of rainfall on Thursday."
© INS NEWSFloods in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, left homes water-logged yesterday
Warnings of severe cold come as Britain recovers from devastating floods. Last night, the Environment Agency still had 101 severe flood warnings and 183 alerts in place.
Communities in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire were left under inches of floodwater after the River Thames burst its banks.
Homes in Marlow and Cookham suffered, and magician Paul Daniels' home in Wargrave was also flooded.
Howard Davidson, area director of the Environment Agency, said: "River levels are high and will continue to rise for the next few days."
Around 2,000 properties have flooded since the storms set in with the death toll continuing to rise.
An 18-year-old died yesterday after being pulled from the marina at Weymouth, Dorset.
In Devon, a woman in her 30s died after falling from a path along cliffs at Orcombe Point, near Exmouth.
With the recent extreme cold and freeze condition experienced by many parts of USA, Canada, the hype about Global Warming seems to have taken back seat. The fact of the matter is that earth is violently fluctuating between two extremes. Earth has parallel world design, where when one part is heating another part is cooling to balance the system. Exponentially increased heat and unwinding force invariably means there will be exponentially increased winding force. These forces are bound to unleash when climate changes. We are heading for huge destruction by unwinding force of heat manifesting into fire bound destruction's and destruction by flash flood/snows, earth quakes and volcanic eruptions due to winding force of earth. We are experiencing this. Our only hope exist in evolving our knowledge of Nature and take quick actions to manage the Energy of Earth’s environment and develop new technologies and bring ground level knowledge changes to live in peace with nature. Please viral such that leaders and intellectual ruling us awaken and take immediate steps- [Link]