7 Jan 2009

Snow across Europe

8:56 am on 7 January 2009

Cold weather covers Europe. Paris had a rare fall of snow on Tuesday, with the Eiffel Tower remaining closed for a second morning. It finally opened later in the day.

Air traffic was disrupted at the main international airport, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. Heavy snow on Monday forced Air France to cancel 150 flights.

Traffic at Paris' second airport, Orly, was operating normally.

Snow also fell in northern Italy, forcing some flights at Milan airport to be cancelled or delayed.

In Poland, 10 people were reported to have frozen to death over the past few days. Overnight temperatures have plunged to minus 25 Celsius recently.

German police also said that a 77-year-old woman froze to death near the town of Weimar after being reported missing from a retirement home.

Heating problems have closed many schools in Britain.

However, the cold weather allowed the Dutch to participate in a national skating marathon for the first time since 1996 on the Oostervaardseplassen fresh water tidal area, near Amsterdam.