Beware of thaws. Even though rain is beginning to fall in many places, if night-time temperatures stay below freezing a new threat can appear, as melt waters freeze into icicles.
In the freeze of 1963 a brief mild spell in January meant that huge icicles formed across the UK. Power cables in South Wales were so thick with them that they caused a power failure to 60,000 customers; RAF helicopters were used to airlift engineers to hilltops to free the cables of ice. In the West Country, The Times reported sheep “walking about for weeks with icicles tinkling on their fleeces”.
Several railway lines were forced to close as giant icicles hung over the entrances to railway tunnels. Some of these plunged down in fearsome barrages whenever trains passed below, causing injury to engine crews in their open cabs.
Buildings in towns and cities were festooned with menacing icicles hanging down like spears, some of which were about 1m (3ft) long, and pedestrians walked below in fear of their lives. But perhaps the largest one of all was about 18m (60ft) long hanging off Hardraw Force, in the Yorkshire Dales, the highest waterfall in England, when it became completely frozen.
Icicles even featured in a criminal case. A man near Taunton, Somerset, was charged after using two large pieces of ice as offensive weapons against a restaurant owner. Unfortunately, the evidence melted before the case was heard in court.