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Any Brit who complains about snow should take a lesson from the people of Capracotta.

The tiny Italian village has set a possible world weather record after being smothered with eight feet in just 24 hours.

A storm hit almost a mile above sea level in central Italy's Apennine Mountains, where the village's 1,000 residents made the best of their fate.

The wind blasted snow into impromptu ski-run drifts in the middle of streets as trapped villagers dug tunnels out from their front doors.

Also hit on the night of March 5 was the neighbouring village of Pescocostanzo, where more than 7ft of snow is said to have fallen.

Photos from Pescocostanzo have now travelled across the country at a speed the snowed-in residents can only dream of.

Capracotta resident Ada Di Rienzo, 40, said her neighbours had to escape out of their top floor windows.

"I've lived in the village all my life and never seen so much snow," she told the Mirror.

"When I woke up in the morning my first thought was 'oh my god, it's a disaster'. You keep worrying that if something happens you won't be able to get help. The nearest hospital is 40km away.

"My friends went out the top floor windows but I just stayed indoors - I have an 18-month-old daughter.

"The wind was so strong that even the snow ploughs couldn't work because they kept getting buried again. They had to wait out the storm."

Weather enthusiasts have already started debating over just how much snow fell.

Italian national news agency Ansa said it was the biggest snowfall since 1956 with more than two metres piling up in just a day.

But weather site Meteoweb claimed the actual figure was even higher - at 2.56m (8ft 5in), making it a world record.

The previous 24-hour record has often been reported as being at Silver Lake, Colorado, where 1.93m (6ft 4in) of snow fell on April 20-21, 1921.

"Now it's official," the site reported. "The data... sets two new records for the most snowfall in a span of 24 hours - although in reality all this snow fell in about 18 hours.

"And at the highest altitudes, accumulations were definitely much more significant."