Mean temperature for the month so far is 2.5C (36.5F) - three degrees below long-term average

This March is set to be the coldest in the UK since 1962, weather experts have said. Statistics from the Met Office showed that from 1 March to 26 March the UK mean temperature was 2.5C (36.5F), which is three degrees below the long-term average. This made it the joint fourth coldest in the UK, in records going back to 1910.
The Met Office said this March was likely to be the fourth coldest on record for England, joint third coldest for Wales, joint eighth coldest for Scotland and sixth coldest for Northern Ireland. This March joined 2006, 2001, 1995, 1987, 1979, 1970 and 1962 as years when the month saw significant snowfall.

The coldest March in the UK was in 1962, at 1.9C (35.4F), followed by 1947, 2.2C (35.9F), 1937, 2.4C (36.3F), and 1916 and 1917, 2.5C (36.5F). The cold weather is expected to continue through the Easter weekend and into April, a spokesman said.

Full figures for the month will be available next week.

Heavy snow is expected over the next 36 hours as Britain shivers on the coldest March weekend for 50 years.

Up to 16ins will fall over high ground with several inches likely across much of the UK, the Met Office said last night.

Over 1,000 schools were shut and transport was disrupted as any hopes of spring were dashed by yet another onslaught of snow and flooding today as temperatures fell as low as -12C (10F).

Emergency services saw an early surge in weather-related call-outs as some parts of the country were hit by blizzard conditions. Government agencies issued a string of warnings urging the public to take care on the roads.

The South-west, which will escape the worst of the winter blast, faces flooding with up to 100mm of rain - almost two months' worth - over the next 24 hours as yesterday's heavy rain continues.

In total The Environment Agency issued 12 flood warnings tonight across the country and 81 less serious flood alerts.

In east Cornwall emergency services were searching for a missing woman her partially property collapsed during heavy rainfall overnight.

Springtime: the time for flowers, newborn animals ... and snow. Nearly half of the United States is currently covered in snow, including most of Canada, as can be seen in this image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That's the largest extent of snow cover at this point in the season in at least 10 years, according to NOAA. Much of the snow came from a massive spring blizzard that dropped snow throughout the Midwest and East Coast, breaking records in many cities.

The town of Lincoln, Ill., broke its daily snow total of 4 inches (10 centimeters), which was set in 1947, with 10.8 inches (27 cm) of snow on Sunday (March 24), according to AccuWeather. The weather system also dropped 2.9 inches (7.4 cm) of snow in Columbus, Ohio, breaking the old record of 1.8 inches (4.6 cm) set in 1965.

Winter-weary residents of southwestern Pennsylvania braced for yet another round of snow and ice - seriously, Mother Nature, again? - Sunday as a massive storm system swept in from the Midwest, dampening hopes that spring-like weather might finally be near. By Sunday night, the storm covered much of the eastern half of the country, from Iowa to the eastern seaboard and as far north and south as Michigan and Tennessee. Along its path across the upper Rockies and Midwest, the storm left as much as a foot of snow over the weekend, with wind gusts creating drifts of 2 to 3 feet in some states. Just 3 to 5 inches of snow was expected to accumulate across much of southwestern Pennsylvania overnight, with another 1 to 2 falling this morning, according to the National Weather Service in Moon.

Still, local road crews were leaving nothing to chance, said PennDOT spokesman Jim Struzzi in Pittsburgh. Crews spent Sunday evening pretreating roads with brine and mounting plows back onto trucks. By midnight, when the heaviest accumulation was expected to begin as the main body of the storm moved in from the southwest, the highway department planned to have 70 to 80 trucks out across Allegheny County, Mr. Struzzi said. "It will be our full fleet," he said. "We're ready for battle." Heavy snow was expected to continue through the pre-dawn hours, then lessen as the day progresses. The winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service expires at 11 a.m. today. "The snowfall is going to be lighter, plus with the late March sun coming through the clouds and warming the ground, not much will accumulate after morning even if the snow lingers into the evening," said Brad Rehak, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Moon.

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Figures released by the Met Office show the UK mean temperature for the 2012/13 winter finishing at 3.31C. This is below the long term 1981-2010 average of 3.83C.

As snow continued to fall throughout the night, City of Edmonton spokeswoman Laura McNabb warned commuters to expect longer-than-usual travel times.

"If the snowfall stopped, it would be far better," McNabb told the Edmonton Journal. "It's a lot of snow. Our guys are doing their best to get the snow off the road and lay down abrasives ... and they're just going to keep at it."

McNabb said the entire city fleet, consisting of more than 200 pieces of equipment, would clear the streets but commute times might be approximately doubled.

"There will be delays, that's just to be expected in these conditions," McNabb said, "If you don't have to be on the roads tomorrow, it might be a good day to take a day off."

A 23-year-old woman, a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy were killed Thursday morning when the compact car they were in crashed head-on with a truck about 180 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. Three others were seriously injured.

Mounties say it was snowing heavily at the time and visibility was poor.

The driver of the truck, a 46 year-old male, is facing several charges, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

Thousands of people in Hungary found themselves trapped in heavy snow after a sudden cold snap and high winds swept over Eastern Europe. Budapest has deployed tanks to reach motorists trapped by the conditions.

The heavy dump has trapped people in cars, buses and trains as dozens of major roads across the country were blocked by the snowfall.

Tanks and other military vehicles with caterpillar tracks have been dispatched to rescue motorists as trucks jackknifed causing huge traffic jams on the main motorway that links Budapest and Vienna.

"The situation is most critical on the M1 motorway where hundreds of cars are stranded in the snow, most of them for 18-20 hours now," Reuters cites Marton Hajdu, spokesman for the National Directorate for Disaster Management.

A state of emergency has been declared in Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on Saturday as the city is paralyzed by heavy snowfall and blizzard totally abnormal for March.

"Due to the deterioration of weather conditions [heavy snowfall, blizzards, snow-banks] a state of emergency is declared in the capital," the statement by the Kiev State Administration said.

The situation in the city is so dire that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has signed a special decree urging all government agencies to provide maximum assistance to victims of the snowstorm.

The military is also involved in rescuing the city from its snowbound condition as 550 servicemen are deployed to the capital to aid the community services.

Besides 253 snow-cleaning vehicles, 13 armored fighting vehicles are being used to tow stranded cars, with 270 trucks, 540 cars, 83 buses and 15 trolleybuses already removed from snow banks.

Aerial video showed vehicles completely buried under snow drifts in Cumbria

Snow and sleet have disrupted transport and power supplies as severe wintry weather continues in much of the UK.

A number of roads and airports have closed, with many of the weekend's sporting fixtures affected too.

A Met Office warning for snow covers Northern Ireland, much of England, northern Wales and south-west Scotland.

Motorists were trapped in their cars overnight in Dumfries and Galloway and 35,000 homes in Northern Ireland are without electricity.

It follows snowfalls across parts of the UK on Friday which also led to the closure of hundreds of schools.

The continuing wintry weather sees snow falling across central and northern parts of the country and spreading to the South and South East of England on Saturday.

The last of hundreds of tired and cold drivers were rescued from stranded cars on Tuesday after winter's late revival brought chaos to both sides of the Channel.

Major roads were blocked in southern England, northern France and Belgium, and Eurostar trains were halted by bad weather on the European mainland.

A man was taken in a critically ill condition to St George's hospital in Tooting, south London, after being hit by a telegraph pole that fell in high winds. The 27-year-old suffered head injuries and a cardiac arrest.

Two other people were freed with minor injuries from the debris of fallen trees, and a 19-year-old woman was treated for head injuries after a three-car pile-up on the M23 in Sussex. There were 771 road accidents, but no fatal injuries, in the county, which took the brunt of blizzards with neighbouring Kent on Monday night.