The cold wave did not only affect France this weekend. In England, heavy snowfall caused transport disruptions, with Liverpool and Manchester airports closing their runways this Sunday. In Germany too, more than a hundred flights have been canceled.
At Frankfurt airport alone, the largest in the country, 120 takeoffs and landings were canceled out of around 1,090 planned. “Take-off and landing runways must be cleared” and “de-icing aircraft is also more complex and more demanding,” said a spokesperson. The airports of Munich and Berlin, which canceled 17 flights due to ice as of Friday, were also affected. German authorities have called for travel to be reduced due to the risk of icy conditions.
The expected and feared frost
In West Yorkshire, a region in the north of England, the ground is covered this Sunday morning with 12 centimeters of snow, said the British meteorological agency Met Office. Up to 40 centimeters of snow fell in some areas above 300 meters above sea level. “Teams are working hard to clear the runway” at Liverpool Airport, which has suspended operations. Traffic, however, resumed at Birmingham and Bristol airports, where the runways had been closed overnight.
Snow also affects traffic on the roads. Operator National Highways said several roads in northern England were closed overnight. In Hampshire, in the south of the country, part of the northbound motorway was closed on Sunday morning due to flooding due to snow that fell overnight, National Highways said. This operator warns that several roads could now freeze. At least one train line in the Leeds region has been closed.
