It is too soon to know for certain whether snow will fall on December 12 – but if it does, it would be the first time in 40 years that it has snowed on the day of a general election.

On that occasion, voters as far afield as Devon and Lancashire trekked to their polling stations in decidedly wintry conditions - despite it being May 3.

READ MORE: Every candidate standing in the general election in Scotland 

Britain was in the middle of an Arctic blast, with snow, hail and ice affecting many areas.

Voters found themselves queuing in the snow in constituencies across the North of Scotland.

In south-west England, up to six inches of snow lay on parts of Dartmoor, disrupting the delivery of ballot boxes to some isolated polling stations.

Around two inches of snow was on the ground across much of northern England, with fresh snow showers arriving later in the day in parts of north Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Temperatures in most places of the UK barely climbed above freezing.

Not even celebrities escaped the disruption.

The evening before polling day, Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough was due to make a guest appearance at a campaign event for Labour candidate Philip Whitehead in the constituency of Derby North, but almost failed to arrive after his car got lost in a snowstorm.

READ MORE: All you need to know about voter registration, deadlines and eligibility

The weather did not dampen voters’ enthusiasm, however.

Turnout on polling day in 1979 was 76 per cent, up from 73 per cent at the previous election.