Saturday, December 2, 2023

Travel chaos worldwide as heavy snow blankets European cities to Hawaiian peaks

Travel chaos worldwide as heavy snow blankets European cities to Hawaiian peaks
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Travel was halted across Europe Saturday as heavy snow blanketed cities and freezing temperatures set in following a week of deadly early-season storms.

Flights were grounded in Munich and Dublin Saturday after a winter storm dumped snow across southern Germany and parts of Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, disrupting travel across the continent.

Hundreds of flights in and out of Munich were canceled and not expected to resume until Sunday morning, the airport announced.

Video captured airplanes and the tarmac at Munich Airport blanketed in white as crews worked to clear the wintery mess.

Delays of an hour or more were reported at London, Vienna and Zurich airports, according to tracking service Flightaware.

Glasgow Airport suspended all flights Saturday morning due to “heavier than forecast snow,” but resumed flight operations several hours later, it said on X.

In Austria and Switzerland, the snow led officials to sound the alarm for potential avalanches.

Sporting events across the UK were canceled, including 11 Scottish soccer matches.

In the past week, 10 people died in snowstorms that rocked Ukraine, leaving some trapped in thousands of stranded vehicles, according to officials. 

The Guardian reported that 1,500 towns and villages in the war-ravaged nation were left without power, with one snowstorm in Odesa leaving 2,500 people needing to be rescued and about 850 vehicles requiring towing.

Four people were reported dead in Moldova as the result of snowstorms. Two of the bodies were recovered from cars buried in snow drifts.

Winter even arrived atop the summits of Hawaii, which saw the first flakes of the season due to the Kona Low weather system that brought heavy rain to lower elevations starting Wednesday.


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