Across vast swathes of Britain the roads are deserted save for a few people trundling along at 5mph, schools are closed and supermarkets are full of people shopping for Armageddon.
But there's always an upside to snow: fun, beauty and grandeur. Here's our pick of some wonderful snowy moments across the nation.
These images of wonderful winters of the past come from the Science & Society Picture Library.
Nuns on the (toboggan) run
The brewery delivery man shows the true meaning of ice-cold beer
It's always the right time to do the conga
Shadow dancer
Steam trains and snowy winters? The old days really were just like your grandfather always told you...
Frozen lakes of yesteryear – without a health and safety official in sight
Definitely the wrong type of snow
These sheep were only too happy to be told to huddle up – just to keep warm
"What do you mean, 'I still have to go to school'? You can't be serious!"
Let's just hope the driver doesn't brake too suddenly...
If you hadn't seen the skier, what would you think had made these patterns...?
From mizzle to drizzle and dreich to dibble: 17 fascinating British words for wet weather
Mizzle, drizzle, dreich and dibble are just some of the many ways we describe rain. Antony Woodward considers our obsession
Credit: Tresco
Tresco: Like Britain, but with better weather, beaches, gardens... and no cars
Michael Sissons visits Tresco, a beautiful, tranquil, family-owned island off the coast of Cornwall.
Credit: Alamy
10 fascinating things you should know about the Shipping Forecast
From the tragedy which sparked its inception to the modern tweaks which have had listeners up in arms.
150 years of the Shipping Forecast: The magic and poetry of Dogger, Fisher and German Bight
Credit: Fish and chips (Alamy)
The best fish and chip shop in Britain for 2018 has been officially crowned
The best fish and chip shop in Britain has been named as Millers of Haxby.
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Meet the British perfumers squeezing landscapes into scentsThe nuances of modern perfumery now allow a single drop to evoke an entire landscape. Amie Elizabeth White explores the native houses hitting the right notes
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A Georgian farmhouse that's an 'absolute gem' in an ancient village on Salisbury PlainJulie Harding takes a look at the beautiful West Farm in a gorgeous Wiltshire village.
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I was Jeremy Hunt’s main political adviser and helped put together multiple Autumn Statements and Budgets. This is what I think Rachel Reeves’s Budget means for the countrysideAdam Smith, former chief of staff to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, reflects on what last week's Budget means for the countryside and how we ensure the rural voice is heard loudly inside Budget preparations.
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The Budget: What do we need to fix a broken countryside, and what will we get?With the Autumn Budget looming, countryside and heritage organisations reveal what they are hoping to hear to fix the turmoil — and what they are dreading
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'I’m going to be the first in more than 100 years to sell anything off': How the upcoming budget uncertainty is impacting young farmersChanges to inheritance tax, property relief and Defra budgets will likely change Britian's rural landscape. We ask the next generation of farmers what they think their future will look like.
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An unfenced existence: Philip Larkin's love of the countrysideRichard Barnett pokes at Larkin’s protective carapace of soot-stained gloom and finds a writer with an unillusioned yet tenderly perceptive sense of Nature, in all its beauty and indifference
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Baby, it’s cold outside (even if you have a natural fur coat): How our animals brave the winter chillWhen the temperature drops, how do Britain’s birds, beasts and plants keep the cold at bay? John Lewis-Stempel reveals Nature’s own thermals.
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Retro rubbish: Waste from the 90s unearthed in 97-mile-long beach cleanThe 6,482 volunteers unearthed waste discarded decades ago among the 232,229 pieces of litter recorded during the initiative.
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Dangerous beasts (and where to find them): Britain's animals that are best left aloneJohn Lewis-Stempel provides a miscellany of our otherwise benign land’s more fearsome critters.
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Mystery, muse and metaphor: There's more to fog than meets the eyeSmothering, transformative and beautiful, fog’s close-set shroud has inspired titans of literature, cinema and art — and forces the rest of us to look at the world a little closer.
