Freezing Weather Across Europe Shuts Down Transport, Closes Schools

BERLIN, Jan 6 (Bernama-dpa) -- Snow and freezing conditions have shut down rail and air travel, caused long motorway tailbacks and closed schools across Europe as a cold wave that struck the continent over the weekend persisted into Tuesday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

Dutch train services were brought to an almost complete standstill on Tuesday morning, and hundreds of flights at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport were cancelled.

In France, school buses stopped running, and train services were disrupted in some regions. Flights were cancelled in Paris and in Nantes in the west.

Tailbacks in the Paris region were reported to have reached a total of 1,000 kilometres on Monday afternoon, with conditions easing slightly on Tuesday. Five road deaths were reported.

In the United Kingdom, hundreds of schools remained closed in Scotland. The weather service predicted heavy snow for the south of the country through the rest of the week.

Temperatures plunged to minus 40 degrees Celsius in northern Sweden on Tuesday, while the Danish authorities urged people in North Jutland to stay at home on Wednesday in expectation of a snowstorm.

In Switzerland, La Brévine in Neuchâtel, traditionally the coldest settlement at an altitude of more than 1,000 metres, reported minus 30.3 degrees Celsius at the start of the week. The Alp Hintergräppelen highland in St Gallen posted minus 37.1 degrees Celsius.

-- BERNAMA-dpa