Heavy snowfall disrupts traffic in Europe

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Snow combined with freezing rain over the weekend disrupted traffic across most of Europe. Some airports, especially in England and Germany, were forced to suspend flights. If it continues to snow, rural communities in the UK, particularly in the north, could be cut off. At an altitude above three hundred meters above sea level, up to 40 centimeters of snow can fall.

The company that oversees Britain's electricity grid said it was working to restore electricity supplies after blackouts across the country. Numerous outages are recorded in Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham. The runways at Manchester and Liverpool airports were closed on Saturday but reopened on Sunday. Leeds Airport also had to close its runway on Sunday.

Road traffic was also disrupted across England and some roads had to be temporarily closed by local authorities. The snow calamity also disrupted rail traffic and a number of connections were canceled or cancelled.

As a result of an advancing warm front ice will form early next week. Freezing rain will hit northern England in particular. The UK Environment Agency has issued eight flood warnings for southern England on the River Taw and Avon.

A similar situation prevails in Germany, where snow has caused traffic chaos. German authorities issued an ice warning for both drivers and pedestrians along with a stay-at-home advisory. At Frankfurt airport 120 take-offs and landings were canceled and only one runway was opened at Munich.

Source:ABCNews