Let It Snow

Britain Covered In White

First comes the snow then the rain's back: Britain covered in white as temperatures dip to -7C 

• Snow expected in Scotland - and it will spread to England and Wales over the weekend
• Met Office warns of icy roads as frost and flooding run-off causes havoc for motorists
• Midlands and East of England may wake to a 'sprinkling of snow'

Britain will shiver into December today as temperatures plunge.

Frost will cover the country and flurries of snow may reach as far south as the Chilterns.

Yesterday an icy blast blanketed the entire country as the mercury struggled to get anywhere above freezing.

Still, these horse trainers in Surrey were happy to ride it out as temperatures dropped below zero.

Riding through the cold: Horse trainers still ensure their horses get their early morning trot, despite temperatures of -1C on Epsom Downs race course in Surrey

Penitentes: Peculiar Spikey Snow Formation in the Andes

On very high-altitude glaciers, such as those in the Andes mountains, where the air is dry, snow can grow into spectacular narrow blades of ice up to several metres high. They are called Nieves Penitentes or simply Penitentes. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow or ice closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun. They usually formed in clusters and range from a few centimetres to 2 meters but penitentes as high as 5 meters has been recorded. These pinnacles of snow or ice grow over all glaciated and snow covered areas in the Dry Andes above 4,000 meters. Penitentes are a common sight in the regions between Argentina and Chile.

Penitentes were first described in the literature by Darwin in 1839. On March 22, 1835, he had to squeeze his way through snowfields covered in penitentes near the Piuquenes Pass, on the way from Santiago de Chile to the Argentinian city of Mendoza, and reported the local belief that they were formed by the strong winds of the Andes.

Snow penitents can be hell if you have to cross them. Photo credit