No wonder everyone was pulling out their scarves and mittens yesterday: temperatures dipped so far down that today has gone down in the books as the coldest January 24 to date.

Bermuda Weather Service Meteorologist Kimberley Zuill told The Royal Gazette that yesterday's low of 49.9 degrees Fahrenheit - set at 5 p.m. - beats the previous record for the same date in 1977 of 50 degrees. Ms Zuill said hail showered down over most of the Island yesterday as gusty conditions from the upper level flow of a thunderstorm brought temperatures plummeting. Fortunately, she added, she had not heard of any damage caused by the hail, which was described as "very small to pea-sized".

"If another storm comes directly over us, temperatures will probably dip to about 48 or 49 (degrees Fahrenheit)," she said.

"This is not an (overall) record temperature for Bermuda," she added. "The record low is 44 degrees Fahrenheit, in February of 1950." The record low for the total month of January, she said, is 46 degrees, in 1955, 1982 and 1989.

Also contributing to the cold, said Ms Zuill, was a trough coming behind a cold front which cleared the Island on Thursday.

Things are looking up, however. "The high for Sunday is 66 degrees," said Ms Zuill, "and there's a high of 61 for Saturday."

The high for Friday was 58 degrees, at 3 o'clock in the morning.