Winter has not quite given up its hold on the UK just yet and with snow forecast over the next couple of days the Highway's Agency's gritting fleet is on full alert. It is not just here at home that snow causes problems but wintry weather is also affecting other countries around the world.

An area of low pressure in the Mediterranean Sea has been swinging fronts north over southern and central France in the last few days, resulting in snow in the mountainous Loire and Auvergne regions of central France. On Wednesday the snow was so heavy that it caused the cancellation of the fourth stage of the Paris - Nice cycling race. Initially, organisers considered amending the route of the 184 kilometre stage from Roanne to Puy-en-Velay because of the extreme weather. Yet with temperatures of -4 Celsius and continued heavy snowfall the race was eventually called off.

Further east in Armenia, a mountainous country in between the Black and Caspian Seas, the winter's lying snow is now starting to melt. Hundreds of homes across the Caucasus nation have been flooded and to make matters worse the country was also battered by strong winds on Wednesday. The storm blew roofs off houses and downed power lines igniting forest fires. Thankfully, the weather started to calm down during Wednesday evening as the winds eased but the flooding situation is still critical.

As well as causing flooding, rising temperatures following heavy snowfall can also bring the threat of avalanches. On Wednesday afternoon there was a huge avalanche near the popular North American ski resort of Breckenridge, Colorado. Sadly one person was killed by the avalanche while riding on a snowmobile. The warm weather across the southern Rockies is continuing to make the snow unstable and there is the risk of further avalanches in the next few days.

The snow expected across the UK on Thursday and Friday will quickly thaw over the weekend as much milder weather sets in.

Weather News from the last five days:
10/03/2004
09/03/2004
08/03/2004
07/03/2004
06/03/2004

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