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Snow problem across Europe
Thursday December 31, 2009 - Email this article to a friend
The Channel Tunnel remains closed, airports have shut in many European countries and roads made impassable as snow blankets the continent. There's even some of it in the Alps now too for us skiers and snowboarders.
2,000 passengers were trapped in the tunnel after 4 trains broke down at the end of last week. The problem arose as the trains left the cold air in France and entered the warmer tunnel. The sharp change in temperature caused them to suffer electrical failure.
Passengers were stranded through the night, though they are now back in the UK.
Many are angry at the delay and how it was dealt with by Eurotunnel. Some were stuck for 16 hours. Services have been suspended causing further disruption.
In Britain Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton have been badly affected with flights delayed and cancelled. It's the same at other airports across Europe.
See this related PlanetSKI story of how one teenager did manage to travel on Friday and get out on his ski trip.
In the UK the snow has eased off in the south though one PlanetSKI reader in London says it is still very cold at -5c in South West London.
More snow is expected in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northern England, with freezing temperatures across the UK.
Swiss rail still functioningThe rest of Europe is in the same cold snap but do seem to be dealing with it all slightly better, though one PlanetSKI reader who drove to Switzerland said it took him 16 hours with roads clogged and some of the tunnels over the Jura mountains closed.
"It was the worst journey to the Alps I have ever done and I have driven many, many times," he told us.
We have already covered the details of conditions across Europe on PlanetSKI so see this story for information about the rest of Europe.
In it we complained that none of the snow was actually falling in the mountains. Well, that has all changed with snow across many parts of The Alps.
Here's a short video of a PlanetSKI reader off piste skiing in the Savoleyres area of Verbier that opened on Saturday.
See these pictures below taken in Switzerland at the weekend. Christmas/New Year looks like it could be pretty good, though it is forecast to warm up early this week and there may be rain at low level resorts and on the lower slopes.
But, for the time being, this is what it looks like.
For a look at some pictures of the snow across Europe and the problems it is causing see this BBC report.
Meanwhile a huge snowstorm is also hitting the eastern USA with severe problems - see here.
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