Record low temperatures, thick snow and packed, impassable roads. Despite the fact that winter hasn’t officially started yet, Europe was paralysed by bitterly cold weather this weekend. A summary.

In Amsterdam, some people were using skis to get around this weekend, children had gone to the attic to get their sledges and snowmen popped up throughout the Netherlands. The onset of winter brought with it fun and lots of beautiful views. However, between 10 and 23 centimetres of snow fell throughout the country and this was enough to disrupt daily life.

Dutch Rail (NS) are calling on people to avoid travelling by train if avoidable and motorway traffic is going at a snail’s pace. And, typically Dutch, dozens of cyclists have complained about local authority gritting policies. Many areas wait till the roads have been dealt with before clearing cycle paths.

Extreme cold
The whole of Europe has been hit by the worst snow for four years. Spain especially has been surprised by unusually thick snow and has issued a warning about severe cold. The weather is not just affecting mountainous and northern Europe. A temperature of –36.4º Celsius was recorded in the German Alps on Sunday, but central Italy was not much warmer at –25º.

Travelling on the roads has been slowed down or made impossible in large parts of Europe. Many homeless people have died because of the extreme cold. In Poland, dozens of people sleeping rough have died.

Stranded
Many travellers were stranded at European airports this weekend. About 700 people slept on makeshift beds at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in the hope of being able to set off on Monday. Passengers throughout Europe have been hit by delays because of the reduction in the numbers of takeoffs and landings. Düsseldorf airport was completely closed down because of the snow.

Passengers on the Eurostar train link which joins Great Britain to the rest of Europe also had a hard time of it. About 2,500 people were stranded in the Channel Tunnel for 16 hours on Friday night. Passengers were plunged into total darkness and the trains became very hot. Some people had panic attacks. All the passengers have now been taken out of the tunnel, but the trains are still not running. It is thought that the problems were caused by the locomotives entering the higher temperature of the tunnel from the freezing cold outside.

What now? More snow is being forecast. Europe is heading for Christmas under a thick mantle of snow, just like in the greetings cards.

Photo - ANP