Snow in Europe is both bad news and good news by Matt Taylor
Snow has fallen across parts of Europe this weekend, disrupting transport but also delighting ski resorts.
The snow has been particularly heavy and disruptive across Alpine regions of Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland, and was accompanied by high winds. Several mountain villages were cut off in southwest Switzerland, and avalanche warnings were issued across many parts of the Alps. Transport services on road, rail and in the air were severely disrupted across all snow-hit areas, and some people had to spend the night trapped in their cars or in trains because of the heavy snow.
Some of the worst conditions were in the southern German region of Bavaria, where nearly 2 feet (over 50cm) of snow fell on Munich during Saturday night. In the state of Hessen it was the heaviest snowfall for 15 years, and nearly a metre had fallen at higher levels in the Bavarian Alps.
Meanwhile, Scottish ski resorts enjoyed their best weekend for many years after several days of snow. After recent winters that have seen Scotland’s ski areas struggle due to lack of snow, Cairngorm Mountain had its busiest weekend for two decades, causing the resort’s ski hire centre to run out of skis. The Lecht ski centre saw more than 2,000 visitors enjoy around 4ft (over 1 metre) of snow despite one of the resort’s access roads being blocked. More snow is expected over the Scottish mountains over the next couple of days.
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