Thoughts of an early spring will have to take a back seat for the time being. Temperatures are falling and an Arctic blast tomorrow will come as a shock after a largely mild January, one of the top ten warmest Januarys on record.

A lesson in how winter can suddenly turn so cruel came 60 years ago. January 1948 was wet and mild, similar to this month, the wettest January on record. But February 1948 brought a sudden late freeze. Even the Channel Islands caught severe cold, with minus 7.2 (19F) in Guernsey on February 19, equalling the island’s record lowest temperature.

Southeast England was also hit hard with sub-zero temperatures. Snow fell thick and fast and snowdrifts of more than 1m (3ft) were reported on Hampstead Heath, London. A bus in Hampshire had to be abandoned for two days as the driver struggled to find a way through a snowbound road. It all brought back memories of the snowy winter of 1947, which led to power cuts, unemployment and food shortages. But the cold snap was brief and followed days later by a heat wave, with reports of people throwing snowballs in warm sunshine. Our cold snap is also expected to be short-lived.