Parts of Britain were paralysed by the most widespread snow of the winter, while many people took advantage of the big chill to have fun.
Disruption caused by the thick blanket of snow, which reached 15cm in some places, is thought to have cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
It swathed the South and Midlands, gradually moving north and reaching Lancashire and Yorkshire.
In Sennybridge, Mid Wales, the snow was 10cm deep, and 8cm in parts of Oxfordshire. Generally it averaged up to 5cm across Southern and Central England.
There were reports of snow reaching 15cm in the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire and between 10 and 15cm in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Scotland, which was not affected by the main belt of the downfall, also experienced snow showers.
Met Office forecasters warned that ice and fog could cause problems, with risks of further snowfall over Wales and North West England.
In Wales almost 600 schools closed. In Birmingham, the city council closed all 400 of its schools "to ensure safety of children and staff". In Herefordshire and Worcestershire 300 schools shut and 175 in Gloucestershire.
Estimated figures for the closures included about 200 schools in Essex, 100 in Cambridgeshire and up to another 100 in Norfolk and Suffolk.
In London more than 100 schools are thought to have kept the gates shut, with around the same number in Oxfordshire. More than 50 schools closed in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
