Weather brings Europe to a standstill

[Menydh]

Snow, fog bring planes, trains, roads to a standstill in Europe

Yahoo News
March 1, 2005

PARIS (AFP) - A bitter cold snap sweeping much of Europe claimed the life of a man in Portugal as snow and fog triggered massive pile-ups and cancellation of air and train traffic throughout the continent.

The 92-year-old man died of hypothermia at a hospital in Evora, 150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of Lisbon, one day after he checked into the facility after spending the night alone in his unheated home, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Another 73-year-old man who also checked into the hospital Monday with severe hypothermia was still in critical condition, she added.

Temperatures fell to record lows for this time of the year in Portugal overnight.

The mercury also plunged to a 100-year low in Germany, where heaters had to be brought into zoos to keep the lions warm.

At least 25 people were injured in Germany in two pile-ups on a motorway engulfed in thick fog. Rescuers worked to cut people free from the wreckage while the motorway from Munich to Lindau in southern Germany was blocked in both directions following the crashes involving at least 100 vehicles.

A 30-car pile-up also cut off Scotland's main highway linking Glasgow to Edinburgh, but no-one was injured.

Air traffic was disrupted out of Madrid and Barcelona due to snowfall, with 180 flights grounded in Barcelona's El Prat airport alone.

Trains were forced to return to stations in Spain's Grenada and Almeria, while frozen tracks led to the cancellation of dozens of trains in Switzerland.

Ferry boats were also cancelled between Spain and Morocco due to strong winds in the Strait of Gibraltar, and port authorities in the Spanish enclave of Cueta on the Moroccan coast said winds had damaged several boats, including some police patrol boats.

Meanwhile, records were broken across the continent. The mass of snow covering the Czech Republic was "probably the largest in the last 40 years," said hydrologist Jan Danhelka.

The Swiss capital Bern registered minus 15.6 degrees Celsius (4 Fahrenheit), its coldest ever at this time of the year since data began to be collected in 1901.

Croatia had its coldest night since 1963, with minus 21 degrees C (minus 6 F) in the central parts of the country.

France beat records set in 1971. It was coldest in the village of Saugues in the western region of Haute-Loire where thermometers registered minus 29.5 degrees C (minus 21 F) Tuesday morning.

Worst hit though was the Berchtesgaden region near Germany's border with Austria, with temperatures of minus 43.6 degrees C (minus 46.5 F), close to the minus 45.9-degree C (minus 50.6 F) record set in 2001.

At Stuttgart airport, the mercury dropped to minus 18.6 degrees C (minus 1.5 F) - the lowest temperature in March in 105 years - while in the central German city of Hanover heating was installed in cages at the local zoo to keep lions and leopards warm.

The cold wave also cost millions of euros (dollars). Authorities in the southern Spanish city of Huelva said the cold snap has so far caused some 80 million euros (105 million dollars) worth of crop damage in the region, including some 26 million tonnes of strawberries.

Some were sure to enjoy the weather though: Children got days off in Scotland and in Spain, where 8,000 stayed home after a 40-centimeter (15 inches) snowfall stranded school buses.


[source]