The UK is braced for an arctic blast bringing seven days of bitter cold as temperatures plummet as low as -10C and parts of the country are blanketed with snow.
After an unusually mild November, temperatures are set to drop well below zero with the icy weather to continue well into next week.
The arctic blast, dubbed the 'Troll of Trondheim', will sweep south across the UK, leaving the country to wake up to icy and freezing temperatures on Thursday.
The bloc of freezing weather was named as such because it swept in from Norway, where the city of Trondheim is.
With it, the Met Office warns it would bring snow and wintry showers, especially towards the end of the week.
The next 24 hours is due to be particularly cold and throughout the night most of England will hit freezing.
Scotland will see the worst of the weather but in Wales the temperature will remain slightly warmer than the rest of the UK, staying as high as 3C overnight.
The very worst affected areas in parts of rural Scotland could see -10C or colder, whilst parts of rural England get as cold as -6C. This could be repeated again on other nights this week.
This comes as a major incident was declared in Sheffield after around 2,000 homes in the suburb of Stannington were left without gas for five days, with overnight temperatures plummeting.
More than 100 engineers were working on the problem caused when a burst water main damaged a gas pipe on Friday, sending hundreds of thousands of litres of water into the gas network.
Engineers have had to go house to house to flush water out the system and check homes - some of which saw liquid pouring from their gas meters and appliances.
As temperatures dropped below freezing on Tuesday night, Sheffield City Council said it declared a major incident so services can be concentrated on the area.
Community buildings, including a pub, were available to those struggling to keep warm.
By Thursday morning most of the country will be shivering its way through temperatures well below freezing, even as the sun rises.
These blisteringly cold temperatures also bring with them three days of weather warnings issued by the Met Office.
Until the weekend, a number of snow and ice yellow weather warnings are in place.
Today most of Wales, barring parts of the south around Cardiff, and parts of the South West and the east coast of England are covered by an ice warning, as well as most of Northern Ireland.
In Scotland a snow and ice warning is in place for much of the north of the country and these bring with them the threat of injury as well as travel disruption.
The weather warnings remain in place until Friday, with an additional one covering much of the north and parts of the midlands coming into action tomorrow.
Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: "We are in this pattern for seven days at least.
"We could see it continue for a while longer, there's uncertainty in the evolution and how long it will last.
"However, the pattern for the next seven days is that it will remain cold and we will see double digit minus figures overnight in areas that are prone to frosts and areas where there is lying snow."
Whilst some the coldest temperatures could be felt over the next 48 hours, the chances of snow increase towards the end of the week.
Snow could fall on parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and potentially the east coast of England, but throughout Thursday and Friday, much of the rest of England will have sun and blue skies.
This comes as homeless people in London will be sheltered after the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol was activated for the first time this winter.
It means all rough sleepers should have emergency accommodation provided for them.
