Depression "Daisy" has Europe under icy control. It has been snowing almost everywhere in Europe, and more is in store for us. Especially GB and Ireland are hit hard, because they normally barely get any snow.
Snow, freezing temperatures, hindered traffic, cancelled flights, closed airports, people are stocking up on canned food, schools are closed, British parents fight over the last sleds in shops, and so on. Yep, it's winter everywhere in Europe
.
Cold snap blankets Europe, Britainhttp://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/01/09/12401561-sun.htmlPARIS -- A European cold snap -- awfully cold in some places -- saw snow clog roads and airports yesterday, knock out electricity and induce hoorays from schoolchildren kept home from school. The low temperatures, prompted by an Arctic weather system, are set to continue through the weekend.
Britain, already deep in its longest cold spell in nearly 30 years, registered its chilliest night yet this season: -22.3C in the Scottish Highlands village of Altnaharra.
British authorities have used up so much grit on icy roads that yesterday they started to run out, leaving thousands of secondary roads and sidewalks untreated.
Gatwick Airport officials said 18,000 tonnes of snow had been removed from runways in recent days. A dozen flights were cancelled out of Marseille-Provence airport in southern France. France's busiest airport, Charles de Gaulle, planned to cancel 25% of its flights today.
SHIVERING
In France, snow piled up from Normandy to Marseilles on the Mediterranean shore. Some 30 cm of snow fell on Arles and Avignon in southern France, and snowdrifts piled higher than a metre. Snowstorms cut electricity to thousands of homes.
Much of Spain was also shivering. And heavy rains caused flooding across central and southern Italy. Northern Italy was blanketed by snow, while Venice faced the "acqua alta" phenomenon -- exceptionally high tides which cause flooding.
In Sweden, temperatures dropped to -38.7C. In Norway, the mercury dropped yesterday to -42C at Roros airport, in central Norway -- the coldest temperature measured since 1987.
For parents from Britain to Berlin, the biggest challenge hasn't been snow-choked roads but finding a sled.
Manufacturers of all types of snow-slipping vehicles, from wooden-runner sleds to plastic bobsleds with breaks, are thrilled at the boom.
"There hasn't been a run on sleds like this since at least 25 years," said Michael Ress, owner of a sled factory in Schwebheim, Germany.