Extreme icy weather paralyzes travel in parts of Europe

Freezing weather in Germany and other parts of Europe threatened widespread road, rail and flight disruptions as the region braced for snowfall and heavy ice build-up.

Frankfurt’s airport operator canceled more than half of the flights scheduled for Wednesday, while the country’s weather service warned of “extreme black ice” in the southwest and advised drivers not to venture out. Rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG said snow and ice could cause delays and train cancellations and limited the maximum speed of its high-speed ICE trains to 200 kilometers per hour (124 miles an hour).

Icy temperatures have been dominating northern Europe for the past few days. The cold is set to intensify in Germany and parts of France until Saturday. Meanwhile, the UK experienced its coldest night of winter so far, the Met Office said in a post on X. 

Milder weather is forecast to take over from Sunday. Next week, temperatures in London, Paris and Frankfurt are expected to hit highs of more than 10C, well above usual levels for the season. A total of 66 heating degree days is seen in Maxar Technologies Inc.’s 6-10 day forecast, 14.9 heating degree days below the 10-year average.  

For now, the extreme cold continues to pose widespread challenges.

Sweden’s national forecaster issued orange and yellow weather warnings for parts of the west and the east coast as an “intense low pressure system” sweeps in from the west, bringing heavy snow.

An Air France-KLM flight bound for Amsterdam got stuck in the snow at Gothenburg’s airport on its way to the runway, according to local media, which stated there were no injuries. Several departures were delayed or canceled, the airport’s website showed.

“It will be a difficult 24 hours weather-wise in large parts of Sweden,” said meteorologist Sverker Hellstrom.

In Norway, Oslo’s Gardermoen airport halted air traffic due to heavy snow until 2:30 p.m. local time, it said on its website.