Snow, ice and high winds battered Europe for a third straight day Thursday, snarling transport networks from Paris to Stockholm, canceling hundreds of flights and stranding passengers as authorities warned of more dangerous weather ahead. At least seven people have died in weather-related incidents.
Air travel bore the brunt of the disruption. Airports in Paris and Amsterdam were among the worst affected, with Dutch authorities saying more than 1,000 travelers spent the night at Schiphol, one of the continent’s busiest hubs. Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly, Brussels and Budapest also reported extensive cancellations. Dublin and Cork said several services to and from Amsterdam and Paris did not operate.
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The chaos rippled onto the rails. Eurostar, which connects London with Paris, Brussels and other continental cities, faced another day of delays and cancellations, compounding frustration for passengers trying to rebook amid backlogs across multiple networks.
Across mainland France, nearly half the country was on alert for heavy snow and black ice. Authorities banned lorries on some routes to prevent pileups, forcing long-haul drivers to pull off the road. “It’s better to be here than stuck on the road,” said driver Carle Bruno, who parked at a service area in the northern port city of Le Havre.
Paris offered a split-screen of winter extremes: as skiers and snowboarders carved down Montmartre’s steep hills, the city’s cold snap deepened the hardship for people sleeping rough. “You just have to stay strong, make sure you don’t die, you know,” said 19-year-old Boubacar Camara, who has been sheltering in a tent on the capital’s outskirts. “We can’t do anything about the cold. I’m not used to this at all.”
Northern Europe also struggled. In the Netherlands, heavy snow blanketed Amsterdam’s Vondelpark as camp beds lined a departure hall at Schiphol. Sweden’s authorities warned that power cuts were likely in the east because of wet, heavy snowfall; trams were suspended in the western city of Gothenburg, where residents were urged to stay off the roads.
In the United Kingdom, temperatures plunged and hundreds of schools in Scotland closed for a third day. Officials warned some rural communities could be cut off by drifts, and forecast a snowstorm for parts of England in the coming days that could also brush southern Ireland.
Central and Eastern Europe faced some of the most punishing cold. Hungary’s national weather service said Budapest saw its heaviest snowfall in 15 years and warned temperatures could fall to minus 20 C in places. In neighboring Austria, temperatures dropped even further, hitting minus 24 C overnight in parts of the Alps.
The Balkans reeled from a mix of snow and flooding. Thousands in Serbia lost electricity after a storm downed power lines, and torrential rain swamped neighborhoods in the Albanian port city of Durres, inundating hundreds of homes and forcing about 200 people to move. Officials there said waters were beginning to recede.
Road authorities and forecasters across the continent urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel, prepare for delays and check carriers for updates as crews worked to clear runways, de-ice aircraft and restore service on rail and tram lines. With snow still falling in several regions and hard freezes forecast in others, transportation planners warned that recovery could be halting and uneven.
Hungary’s interior ministry said one woman died when a car skidded on ice and crashed, one of several weather-related fatalities reported as the cold blast swept across borders. Officials throughout the affected regions asked drivers to carry blankets and emergency supplies and reminded pedestrians that black ice would remain a hazard even after snowfall eases.
With forecasters predicting continued wintry conditions into the weekend, European transit hubs braced for rolling disruptions—urging patience from travelers and caution from anyone venturing out into the cold.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
