In County Donegal a status yellow warning is in force for snow/ice, rain and strong wind until noon.

"After subscribing to weather alerts for obscure corners of East Anglia," says Mr Hall, "I made many trips to fen skating 'hotspots' to find thin or melted ice, rain or flooded roads."

Forecasters expect the storm system to hobble the upper Midwest with ice, rain and snow for days, as well as move into the Northeast and central Appalachians.

In his years without a home, Gregory Hammett has fought off heat, cold, wind, ice, rain, snow, rats, insects, hunger, riots and robbers.

The coldest storm of the season is threatening to deliver ice, rain and hail as it moves across the region.