Gloves, scarves and winter coats are flying off shop shelves and gritters have started salting major roads as the Christmas cold snap goes on.

Shoppers are reacting to the sudden drop in temperatures following one of the mildest starts to winter on record. The weather change has also caught out flowers with snowdrops and daffodils already peeking up through the ground.

Temperatures were forecast to fall to -2C (28F) last night, and -3C tonight. Today's daytime temperature was expected to be about 1C (34F).

The forecast for the weekend is much the same.

But the weather has been good news for clothes retailers, with outdoor specialists such as Millets, and Black's reporting increases of 20 per cent and 50 per cent respectively, for sales of gloves, hats, scarves and coats.

Millets' Queen Street, Oxford, manager Mark Nice said: "Over the course of the last week there has been a massive increase in the number of people buying gear to keep warm in the cold."

Dan Beesley, manager of Black's, in St Aldate's, said: "A lot more people are coming in looking for hats, gloves and warm winter jackets.

":When we had the cold spell last year it went crazy, it's not quite as big as that yet, but there has been a significant increase in the number of people coming in to buy things."

The recent mild weather has led to spring flowers popping up much earlier than usual all over the county, with snowdrops, in Headington Hill Park, Oxford.

Keith Warwick, 63, from Witney, was gardening when he saw a daffodil growing in a window box.

"It's just too early," he said. "It shouldn't be out for another three to four months. I would even expect it as late as May."

A city council spokesman said: "It is unusual to have daffodils growing at this time of year: they usually appear between March and May.

"However, this seems to be happening all over the county and our parks team have also spotted snowdrops growing in Headington Hill Park, about four to five weeks ahead of schedule."

Timothy Walker, director of Oxford's Botanic Garden, warned that with the sudden cold snap, we could lose the flowers as quickly as they have bloomed.

He said: "With the severe overnight frost we have been having, many of these flowers will die very suddenly so enjoy them while you can!"