Big freeze set to continue
There may have been little or no snow but Christmas card scenes have abounded across Shropshire after another heavy frost blanketed the landscape.
Sheep brave the -5C temperatures on the Long Mynd" class="imageframe imgaligncenter" height="220" src="http://www.shropshirestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2cold450.jpg" title="Sheep brave the -5C temperatures on the Long Mynd" width="450"/>Sheep brave the -5C temperatures on the Long Mynd
There may have been little or no snow but Christmas card scenes have abounded across Shropshire after another heavy frost blanketed the landscape.
Everywhere glistened in true festive style following another freezing night, which in turn followed the Arctic conditions yesterday which weathermen said was the coldest day of the century so far.
Temperatures failed to climb above -3C (27F) across the county during the day and then dipped to -4C (25F) overnight.
John Warner, Shropshire Star weatherman, warned the county was in for more of the same and the thaw was not likely to start until a week tomorrow.
He said: "It has dropped to around -2C (28F), but with a fair bit of cloud around to stop the temperature plunging much lower."
He said today was likely to be a "little less cold", but the freezing fog we saw earlier in the week would return by tonight and continue into tomorrow and Sunday.
The whole country is being caught in the icy grip, with sub-zero temperatures forecast in most areas, but the freezing weather will become a distant memory as the year progresses, with 2009 predicted to be one of the five warmest on record.
The Met Office and University of East Anglia researchers said the average global temperature for 2009 is expected to be more than 0.4C (0.7F) above the long term average, making next year warmer than this year and the hottest since 2005.
The Met Office also predicted a rapid return to long-term warming for global temperatures and an increased probability of record temperatures after 2009.
Currently the warmest year on record is 1998, which saw average temperatures of 14.52C (58.1F).