Heavy snow and freezing rain has hit parts of northern and central Europe, bringing transport to a halt in some Scandinavian regions and causing major disruption at airports in Frankfurt and Oslo.
At Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest, freezing rain forced a halt to take-offs as freezing rain persisted on Wednesday lunchtime, German news agency dpa reported.
The airport cited a danger of de-iced aircraft icing up again as they taxied toward the runway, and said it planned to halt landings as well in mid-afternoon.
Some departures resumed in the afternoon as the rain subsided. Hundreds of flights had already been cancelled before the halt to take-offs.
The airport in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, was closed temporarily as heavy snow reduced visibility for pilots. Airport spokesperson Ylva Celius said the huge amount of snow and wind hampering traffic was “very unusual” and the resulting closure was “extremely rare”.
The airport reopened later on Wednesday.
Heavy snowfall brought traffic to a standstill in large parts of Scandinavia, with roads and highways clogged with stranded motorists, public transportation delays, cancellations on some ferry routes, and the closure of some bridges. Police in several parts of Denmark urged people to stay at home.
Southern Sweden also saw heavy snowfall.
The freezing rain across western and southern Germany led to many accidents on icy roads in the early hours of Wednesday.
As a precaution, many schools and kindergartens closed for the day and some companies offered their employees the option of working from home.
National train operator Deutsche Bahn cancelled several long-distance trains and announced that the maximum speed of its ICE high-speed trains was limited to 124mph for the day as a precaution.
The small airport in Saarbruecken closed for the day, and there were delays and cancellations in Munich and elsewhere.
