9
Wrap up warm
Saturday January 9, 2010 - Email this article to a friend
It's cold across Europe with Britain recording a temperature of -22ºC and the Austrian capital of Vienna expecting half a metre. See our video of a flight from the Alps which shows France covered in snow.
Many parts of Europe are preparing for even colder conditions with fresh snow predicted. In Germany there have been numerous road accidents and reports of around a dozen homeless people dieing in the cold.
Many died in Poland in the last cold snap before Christmas.
Northern Spain is expecting snowfall and large parts of France too.
One of our reporters has just flown from Geneva to London and reports that there was snow covering the ground the whole way back.
The South of England looked positively Alpine, except the South Downs don't quite match the Alps.
See the video below from out of one of the plane's windows on the flight from Geneva to London City airport.
Meanwhile, here is the snowy scene along the Rhone valley to Lac Leman in Switzerland.
Safety officials are warning people to be very careful if large quantities of snow build up on flat roofs. In the mountains many roofs are sloped to distribute the weight of the snow more evenly and so it can slide off.
Clearing the build upHowever in the towns and cities many roofs are flat.
Often they are on community halls or schools so the danger to people is even greater.
Snow on roofs actually causes a reasonable threat as it can slide off and hit people or, in some cases, people injure themselves trying to clear it.
Falling icicles too can be dangerous as we reported here last winter.
So, why is it so cold across large parts of Europe?
It is the result of high pressure over the Arctic ice cap that has pushed the cold air out of the polar region and down towards Northern Europe. With winds coming from the north too this has further exacerbated the situation.
Good news for us skiers, as long as we wrap up warm, but not so good for many, many others.
Schools are closed, the transport systems disrupted and heating bils are set to soar.
If you are out in the Alps do let us know how you are dealing with the cold.
In the meantime here is a short video we made in the Swiss Alps just before Christmas, when it was pretty cold too, to see what extra things people were wearing to keep warm.
Wrap up warm
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Wool and Merino Wool. Is warm, warm, warm!
Xavier Adam, St Gervais, France
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