Parts of the River Thames froze for the first time in 60 years when the UK dropped to the coldest temperature recorded in February.
Seagulls are sitting on a frozen Thames in Teddington, south-west London, this afternoon, when it struck for the first time since the Great Freeze in Great Britain in 1963.
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The slow flow of water on the Thames is no longer sensitive to icing, with a bitter Oriental wind freezing parts of the river for the first time in decades.
The mercury will drop to as little as 5C in the capital tonight after pieces of ice were seen hanging from the fountains in London’s Trafalgar Square this morning.
The temperature in North Yorkshire dropped to minus 15.3C last night, which was a record low for any English region in February.
Meanwhile, the coldest British temperature for 65 years was recorded on Wednesday night in Braemar in the Scottish Highlands, with temperatures dropping to minus 23C.
Bookies lowered the coldest Valentine’s Day to 7/2 on Sunday, with Coral suggesting snow could last until next month.
Oli Claydon, a spokesman for the Met Office, said the records were broken in temperatures in a very certain way.
“Normally you would expect records to be broken from point to point so far, but here we are looking at big differences,” he said.
Claydon warned that there was a chance of further snow on Sunday, saying the Met Office was likely to issue a warning for ice, which would pose “significant dangers”.
Councils in England have urged people to pay extra attention tonight, while some have been forced to briefly suspend waste collection services while Storm Darcy has hit the UK.
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Jeremy Hunt, Conservative MP and chairman of the Committee on Health and Social Care, slammed a Commons debate this afternoon after breaking his arm while jogging.
Hunt told MPs he spent the morning at Royal Surrey County Hospital after slipping in the icy conditions.