北极寒流导致英国伦敦74年来首次被大雪覆盖
Jack Frost is obviously a little more impatient than usual this year.
Just two days after the end of British Summertime, the first snowfall of the season turned large swathes of the country white last night..
Even London was hit by a light dusting last night, the first time the capital has seen snow in October since 1934.
Snow joke: A commuter cycles home in snowy Coventry, cutting a track through the fresh layer
一个骑自行车回家的人，在刚刚被雪覆盖的路上留下长长车轮的印痕。
A car heads through blizzard-like conditions in Stevenage, Hertfordshire
哈福德郡，斯蒂芬艾治，汽车在暴风雪中前行
That was the year footballer Stanley Matthews first pulled on an England jersey, Adolf Hitler became Fuhrer and Alcatraz prison opened its gates off San Francisco.
Other areas of the South-East, including Hertfordshire, just 20 miles out of London, were covered in a thick blanket of snow.
Thousands of homes in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex were today without power as the unseasonal weather led to substation problems.
The last time it snowed in the region in October was 1974.
The cold snap saw snow falling on London
伦敦大片的雪花飘落
It was the first time snow has settled in North London in October for decades
这是伦敦北部数十年来头一次在10月被大雪覆盖
The Arctic blast hit Northern Ireland and Scotland hardest: Here children in Newtownabbey, County Antrim were delighted by the early snowfalls
北极寒流袭击北爱尔兰和苏格兰：这里的孩子们因此高兴地玩起了雪。
It may be October but this Aberdeenshire scene could have come straight from a Christmas card
虽然现在是10月份，但是这景象似乎经常是出现在圣诞贺卡上的。
Children in Stevenage, Hertfordshire managed to make snowmen and Welwyn Garden City saw two inches of thick snow.
Oxford and parts of Bedfordshire were also covered as the weather front swept across the Home Counties.
In the Midlands an area from Herefordshire in the West to Cambridgeshire in the East was transformed into a Christmas card scene.
Cancelled: A football match between Luton and Bournemouth was abandoned when snow fell on the pitch
一场足球比赛因为大雪而取消
It is the first time there has been snow in England in October since 2003. In some areas, the conditions were so bad that league football matches had to be called off or abandoned after kick-off.
Luton's game at home to Bournemouth was abandoned after just eight minutes and the Wycombe vs Macclesfield match lasted only 23 minutes before the weather closed in. Other games, at Walsall and Northampton, also failed to go ahead.
The Met Office said it was extremely unusual for snow to fall in London in October.
Road conditions were treacherous in Scotland
苏格拉道路交通受大雪影响
A forecaster said: 'It has snowed across the country and many people would have seen a couple of centimetres of snow collecting on top of their cars.'
The snow is even more remarkable for October's warm start, with the country basking in a sunny 20c (68f) in the month's early days.
The Met Office's John Hammond said: 'October started like summer and is ending like winter.'
Mr Hammond added that the cold snap resulted from air travelling south from the Arctic.
Hockey players were undeterred by the snow falling in Birmingham, while commuters put a brave face on the elements
The chilly forecast follows the revelation that hundreds of Bewick's swans, which were due to return to an English nature reserve for the 'warmer' winter, are staying put in Siberia because it is colder in the UK.
Around 300 Bewick's Swans were expected at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre on October 21, but as yet there has been no sign of them.
Each year the swans land at Slimbridge having completed the 1,864-round-trip from Russia.
But weather experts say global warming has created warmer temperatures in Siberia, which may cause the swans to fly over later, or at worst not come at all.
And it seems Siberia is not the only place warmer than the UK with temperatures in Anchorage, Alaska hovering around a relatively balmy -4c and 6c in Oslo, Norway.