Millions of people living in southern England and the Home Counties were told to prepare themselves for up to 40cm of snow last night as Britain remained in the grip of the longest prolonged spell of cold weather for 30 years.

Not everyone has been so concerned about the unusually high levels of snow though.

Those able to get out and enjoy the weather in Britain have done so in style.

Footage has been posted on YouTube of those making the most of the snow by going sledging – without clothes on.

Nevertheless, the Met Office has issued its highest level of alert, warning of an impending “extreme weather event” that would bring travel chaos and threaten power supplies.

Forecasters said it would be snowing in London before dawn, bringing widespread disruption to the capital and forcing many workers to stay at home.

Further, they said the freezing conditions were expected to continue for up to two weeks.

“This type of warning is very rare,” one meteorologist said.

“A period of exceptionally heavy snowfall is expected with accumulations of 15-30cm and perhaps in excess of 40cm.”

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RECORD BREAKING COLD IN AMERICA

Another surge of bitterly cold air from the Arctic region has descended upon the US.

The chill will envelop the eastern Dakotas and central Nebraska Wednesday morning and will ride into the Mississippi valley by evening.

Temperatures behind this front will drop to around zero (F) and hold there during the day and will fall below zero (F) by evening.

Wednesday highs will be in the single digits and teens (F) just ahead of the front, and will fall off quickly behind it.

High temperatures east of the Mississippi River should be either side of 20 degrees F.

A fluffy snow will accompany this cold surge.

Snowfall accumulations of 4 to 8 inches are.

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– NZHERALD.CO.NZ, THE INDEPENDENT, WEATHER.COM