Global dumbing post while I am away
Freezing temperatures cause cold snap across Europe
Freezing temperatures have caused chaos across Europe as ice and snow have brought traffic to a halt and closed roads.
From Telegraph.co.ukLast Updated: 8:05PM GMT 01 Feb 2009
Switerzland, France and Spain were just some of the countries to be hit by unusually low temperatures.
In Versoix near Geneva in Switzerland cars were rendered immovable after being covered by icicles.
Icicles also hung danergously from trees and lamposts.
Snowfall snarled traffic in several parts of Spain including the capital, Madrid, on Sunday, while a storm in the south disrupted ferry travel from the port city of Algeciras to Morocco, authorities said.
Sections of two highways in the Madrid region were temporarily closed to vehicles triggering traffic jams, the National Travel Administration Department (DGT) reported.
Parts of central and southwestern Spain also reported long queues, before traffic returned to normal in most areas by midafternoon.
Spanish airports, however braved the conditions and reported normal operations, with the cold snap causing just a few delays.
Snow was also expected to hit northern France late on Sunday, where 32 departments have been placed under orange alert including the Paris region, Meteo-France announced.
The French weather service did not expect major accumulations of snow, but icy rain may make transportation difficult, it said.
The cold snap comes shortly after both Spain and France were hit by violent storms late last month that killed 25 people and left hundreds of thousands of homes without power.