Germany among coldest spots, but Italy and France also in icy grip
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10652523/
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europ ... index.html
BUDAPEST, Hungary - Driving snow and icy winds caused traffic chaos across much of Europe on Friday as temperatures dipped close to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in some places, sending motorists slip-sliding and delaying flights and rail travel.
The motorway connecting Budapest with Vienna was closed after about 60 vehicles crashed in a pileup following heavy snow in Hungary overnight. An 8-year-old Serbian boy was killed and more than 10 people injured, some seriously.
The route was briefly reopened but was shut again after a truck hit a fire engine while it carried out rescue work in the aftermath of the accident, Hungarian state news agency MTI said.
Only one runway was open at Budapest’s main international airport and rail journeys were also delayed.
In Slovakia, holiday traffic ahead of the new year ground to a halt as the main road out of Bratislava was closed after between 40 and 60 cars were involved in a giant-chain reaction accident. Police said at least three people had died on the roads and 20 were hurt.
The army was called in to help clear the roads linking the capital with central and northern Slovakia as 4-foot snow drifts made conditions even more treacherous.
Traffic jams to ski areas
Motorists heading to the hills for holiday skiing were caught up in massive jams across southern Germany.
“We had a lot to do today and last night. Especially on the classic routes to go skiing in southern Germany there have been many delays and traffic jams,” a spokesman for the automobile club ADAC said.
According to Meteomedia, a private weather service, the coldest temperature measured in Germany overnight was minus 38 Fahrenheit at Funtensee Lake in southern Germany.
Switzerland also shivered, with MeteoSwiss meteorological experts recording the lowest temperature so far this season. The coldest was La Brevine, 3,000 feet high and often dubbed “Switzerland’s Siberia,” with minus 33 Fahrenheit.
Italy, Belgium, France, Poland
Two homeless people have been found dead in Rome over the past two days and Florence woke on Thursday to 10 inches of snow, the most in 21 years. Temperatures in the north reached minus 20 Fahrenheit.
A state of emergency was declared around Naples.
The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium issued a severe weather warning for the southern regions of Namur and Liege, saying conditions were already “very dangerous”.
A burst of freezing rain following snow in France left many roads dangerously slippery. Around Tours, police reported a dozen accidents within an hour of the ice forming.
Some highways were closed and temperatures of minus 15 Fahrenheit were recorded in the eastern town of Mouthe, one of the country’s coldest spots.
In southern Poland, heavy snowfalls made side roads to the region’s main motorway inaccessible and Krakow’s airport said it was experiencing delays, due partly to problems elsewhere in Europe.
“Thick snow and fog make it difficult for planes to move around,” Krakow airport duty officer Lech Kawik told Reuters.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Europe slip-sliding around in sub-zero freeze
Moderator: S2k Moderators
Forum rules
The posts in this forum are NOT official forecast and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or STORM2K.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests