Mark Hewson, UK hub director at Imerys, joined the UKREiiF panel. Pointing at the giant map of the Great South West region on the wall behind him, he said: “That map is 300 million years old.

Areas escaping the snow include the south west of England, Wales and Northern Ireland - while maps for Sunday 9th March show London and the south-east of England face a deluge of heavy rain showers.