Winter wonderland in middle of spring

It may be spring but it looked more like Christmas as the Midlands woke up to a blanket of snow, with some areas of the country colder than Antarctica.

See also: All your snow photos

Excited children pulled on their winter woollies and headed outdoors to build snowmen and pelt each other with snowballs.

Yesterday's stunning winter wonderland scenes also inspired people to reach for their cameras to record the scene.

A family building a snowman in East Park and red-cheeked youngster Jack Hill cuts a cute figure as he plays.

Up to three inches of snow fell in the region - just 72 hours after the warmest day of the year so far.

Yesterday's heavy snowfalls blocked roads and caused delays or diversions to flights from Gatwick and Heathrow airports. Forecasters said such widespread snow had not been seen in April since 1989. And they predicted more snow for northern and eastern parts today.

Paul Knightley, from MeteoGroup, said snow fell overnight in parts of the Midlands, the North East and in north Scotland.

"Some people woke up to a covering of snow but nothing like what we saw in parts of England yesterday," he said.

"Most of the snow would have melted away quite quickly as temperatures rose and the roads got busier.

"A lot of the worst affected roads yesterday would have cleared much earlier if it had been a weekday and people had been driving to work."

A sharp frost was predicted for last night but temperatures will be less cold as the week goes on lifting from 5C or 6C to 8C or 9C. There will be wintry showers across the country through the week with rain and hail falling.

Mr Knightley said: "Temperatures will creep up as we go on and by next week there are indications of some more spring-like weather coming."

The Met Office has warned that this summer is likely to be hotter and wetter than usual. It is predicting a return to the traditional British summer of "three fine days and then a thunderstorm".