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That’s the warning from a NASA scientist who said sunspot activity on the surface of our star has dropped so low that it could herald the arrival of a grim mini Ice Age.

“We see a cooling trend,” Martin Mlynczak of NASA’s Langley Research Center told Space Weather.

“High above Earth’s surface, near the edge of space, our atmosphere is losing heat energy.

“If current trends continue, it could soon set a Space Age record for cold.”

(Image: Getty)

This comes as Daily Star Online revealed snow will blanket Britain in a White Christmas.

Sunspot activity follows a cycle which is believed to last 11 years as the number of patches peaks and drops.

There have been very few spots on the sun for most of this year, meaning that it could be about to get very cold, very quickly.

“It could happen in a matter of months,” Mlynczak added.

(Image: NASA)

(Image: Getty)

An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers.

Earlier this year, NASA released a picture showing the blank face of the sun looking more like a snooker ball than the roiling surface of a super-hot star.

The sun is predicted to reach its “solar minimum” low point in 2019 or 2020, according to NASA’s calculations.

During the longest solar minimum on record between 1645 and 1715, the River Thames froze over and "frost fairs" became popular.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

This period was known as the Little Ice Age.

Harsh bitter winters were felt all over the northern hemisphere

Solar minimum may enhance the effects of space weather, disrupt communications and navigation, and even cause space junk to “hang around”, NASA said.

The latest forecast from the Met Office is that temperatures will nosedive through the last part of the month putting parts of the country at risk of snow.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

Its long range outlook states: “There will be an increasing chance of some more unsettled interludes developing [during the last week of November], with showers or longer spells of rain spreading to many areas at times.

“Temperatures are likely to be below average overall.

"There will be a marked increase in the likelihood and extent of frosts, with any milder interludes likely to be short lived.

“With more generally colder temperatures, there will be an increased chance of snow, particularly for northern hills, during spells of more unsettled weather.”