THE big chill has come to North Yorkshire, with temperatures dropping below minus five in the Vale of York.

A car passes snow-covered daffodils at Brandsby

But the senior forecaster at the PA Weather Centre, Martin Airey, said he did not think last night's freeze would have broken records for April.

The lowest local temperature, minus 5.1 degrees, was recorded at Topcliffe near Thirsk, and Mr Airey said other nearby locations would have been around minus four.

The lowest temperature in the country was minus 6.7 in Northumberland, but he added there had been temperatures of minus 11 previously recorded in April.

He warned people to expect similarly low temperatures for tonight, and also during the evenings up to Friday and possibly through the weekend.

During this period there would be unsettled weather, including wintry showers which could consist of hail, sleet or snow.

Yesterday cars encountered problems in blizzard conditions at Sutton Bank and Brandsby.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.