Snowfall disrupts northern Europe's airports and roads

Snowfall in Europe made cars disappear

Heavy snowfall is the result of disruption across northern Europe, closing airports and bringing a huge traffic throughout the day. All airports were closed in the France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Several flights were also affected in Germany and Spain because of this incident.

Eight homeless people died as temperatures fell below negative 20 degrees celsius in Poland.

Prominent figures including Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero faced delays as they headed to Zurich for the FIFA World Cup vote.

In Moscow, temperatures dropped to negative 23.6 degrees celsius. That is the lowest on record for the 1st of December since 1931.

In Poland it was even colder, with the eastern city of Bialystok registering temperatures of negative 26 degrees celsius. Country police appealed to the public to get in touch if they found any homeless people living outdoors after eight homeless men were found frozen to death.

In Britain, thousands of schools were closed and police in the southern county of Surrey described conditions as the worst they had ever seen.

The Met Office has issued heavy snow warnings for much of the eastern side of Britain and some central areas.

There were severe flight delays reported in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Prague. In France, 12 regions in the frozen east and centre banned the use of lorries, forcing more than 7,000 of them to park overnight.

Passengers faced delays of up to an hour on Eurostar services linking London with Paris and Brussels. Increased demand for gas and electricity saw a rise in prices on Europe's energy markets.

One of Britain's busiest airports, Gatwick, was closed, as was Edinburgh airport. Geneva airport in Switzerland and Lyon-Bron airport in southern France were also closed as staff struggled to clear runways of snow.

Thick snow across Germany blocked roads, and caused flight cancellations and school closures. Bild newspaper said it was the coldest start to December for centuries, with some areas reporting temperatures as low as negative 18 degrees celsius.