AFTER getting out our winter coats we might as well get used to the bracing weather.

Temperatures were due to plunge to below freezing again last night and experts have said Sussex can brace itself for a long, cold winter.

Gritters were at the ready to keep the roads safe with frost expected across the county this morning.

Cold winds will give way to a winter that could be colder than it has been for years - partly due to a disturbed icy winds in the Arctic.

A spokesman for the Met Office said yesterday: "In the Brighton area in town overnight we were probably looking at close to freezing and just outside Brighton, a few degrees below zero.

"Today there is a weather front coming down from the west which will raise temperatures slightly, leading to a wet, miserable end to the day."

Conditions look more settled for the south over the next ten days, but the Met Office says there is an increased risk of cold snaps across the UK this winter.

Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met Office Hadley Centre, said the risk of a cold start to winter has increased to 30 per cent this year, driven by factors including winds high in the stratosphere, circling the Arctic – around what is known as the Polar Vortex – which are disturbed and weak at the moment, which can influence the strength and positioning of the jet stream.

West Sussex County Council planned to send its gritters out last night on primary routes, and is also carrying out routine wintery checks on the elderly and the vulnerable.

Meanwhile the Sussex Air Quality Partnership has launched a new 'cold Alert' service, where people can sign up to get alerts of impending cold weather so they can make sure their home is warm and they are stocked up with food and medicines.

Brighton and Hove City Council said its gritters were also at the ready, with 15,000 tonnes of salt stockpiled.

Diane Moody, a business owner from central Brighton, was with friends wrapped up warm on Brighton beach yesterday (Monday) morning.

She said: "It was quite warm in the sunshine although there was a very chilly wind.

"It's good to get wrapped up and enjoy the sunshine with a cup of good coffee.

"When it's so quiet and peaceful it's bracing and it makes you feel alive."