As Arctic Britain prepares to shiver for at least another month, a leading scientist today predicted the world was heading for another Ice Age.

Incredibly, British Summer Time officially starts tomorrow but millions of brassed off Brits pining for warmth will have to endure freezing temperatures and biting winds until May.

The misery will continue with daytime temperatures struggling to reach a bracing 5C (41F). The only ray of sunshine, forecasters said, is that it will stay dry.

As if the outlook wasn't bleak enough already, meteorologists believe the shivering start to 2013 has been the coldest in more than 200 years.

More worryingly, the combination of sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow experienced across much of the country recently could be the prelude to a new Ice Age that will begin next year and last for 200 years.

Russian scientist Dr Habibullo Abdussamatov, of the St Petersburg Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, painted the Doomsday scenario saying the recent inclement weather simply proved we were heading towards a frozen planet.

Dr Abdussamatov believes Earth was on an "unavoidable advance towards a deep temperature drop". The last big freeze, known as the Little Ice Age, was between 1650 and 1850.

Today he said: "The last global decrease of temperature (the most cold phase of the Little Ice Age) was observed in Europe, North America and Greenland.

"All channels in the Netherlands were frozen, glaciers were on the advance in Greenland and people were forced to leave their settlements, inhabited for several centuries.

"The Thames river in London and Seine in Paris were frozen over every year. Humanity has always been prospering during the warm periods and suffering during the cold ones. The climate has never been and will never be stable."

The miserable weather since the turn of the year has been blamed on two episodes of high pressure.

A poorly positioned jet stream means ice cold temperatures and the continuing risk of snow showers across the north and east.

Almost all of the UK can expect a continuation of night frost, which will turn severe at times.

April is forecast to be a drier than average month in the north and east, slightly wetter to the south and west but it is expected to be one of the oldest on record.

Forecaster Jonathan Powell, of Vantage Weather Services, said: "My goodness haven't we suffered over the winter, but if people are after sunshine in the next month my advice would be to head for the airport.

"It is going to remain dry at least, but we will all need to remember to pull on an extra layer of clothing before stepping outside.

"May could well be our saving grace because at the moment it's looking a lot better but I am sorry to say after that we are heading down the same route as last year."

Numbing temperatures of -11C (12F) last night broke the previous coldest Easter with some describing the past few months as "Britain's lost spring".

As the clocks go forward the Met Office forecast record lows to of -11C in north Wales, northern England and Scotland.

Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said: ""Nights will stay cold with -10C possible and -11C not out of the question from north Wales northwards to Scotland.

"The weather is exceptional, unusually cold and unusually prolonged - with little change next week.

"Snow showers are certainly an increasing risk in the second half of the week, especially in the south.

"They are expected to fall more widely than flurries this week, with a slight covering in places - but nothing like the heavy snow last weekend."

British tourism is braced to suffer heavy losses calculated at "tens of millions of pounds" with as many as two million scrapping pre-planned domestic Easter breaks because of the chill.

A fed-up Brighton tourism spokesman said: "We had 100,000 visitors last Easter - but bad weather will hit tourism numbers. We do have indoor attractions however."