I've checked the last night's temperatures in Europe, chilly areas are central Scandinavia (down to -43C) and Southern Ural (down to -37C). It seems to be just a matter of wind (baric gradient), whether the weather somewhere in mid-latitude Europe will be nearly melting (like now in Ukraine) or more like a 'true winter' (like you have there)
(...) sections of strule River are froze over, people were just staring at it from the bridge and taking photographs-ive never seen this river freeze over before.
Paul, it is always something to compare with. Here in Poltava, for example, Vorskla river (quite a big one) is frozen since mid-December (so I have forgot about it already). On the other hand, I have never seen in my life how it is to drive a car across the frozen river/lake, but I know in Russia it may be even a common job in winter, once I've seen on TV as heavy trucks (!) were driving across Baikal lake - that's impressive.