The county is set to endure at least another three weeks of cold and frosty weather conditions, forecasters said today.

Jim Bacon, a forecaster for WeatherQuest said temperatures look set to remain below average for this time of year.

The frosty conditions look set to plague residents for up to a month, with sleet and snow showers to remain.

Mr Bacon said temperatures would become frosty tonight with the mercury plummeting to -3C.

He said: “We do forecasts a month in advance for sugar beet factories and we are currently looking up until the beginning of March.

“It does look like these colder conditions are going to remain in place for about three weeks or so.

“I would say that this is likely to be the coldest week or the period, temperatures will rise slightly but not significantly.

“The temperatures we are seeing at the moment at a couple of degrees lower than the average.

“We certainly aren’t seeing any significantly milder weather in the near future.”

Temperatures are set to be around the 4C mark during the days.

The forecaster said another weather front would bring a mixture of rain, sleet and snow to the county on Wednesday.

He added: “It will be brighter (today) but still a lot of cloud and sleet and snow.

“It will get a lot colder and there is the chance of some very frosty conditions.

“We could see temperatures at night time get down to about -2C or -3C during the colder bits,

“After this front, we will have another on Wednesday which will be a mixture of sleet, snow and rain but I think by the time it reaches it will be more rain than anything.”