Despite its scarcity due to climate change, snow disrupts transportation and aviation in northern Europe

Arab Weather - Frankfurt Airport, one of the busiest airports in Germany, witnessed the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Wednesday due to the severe winter weather that affected northern Europe. 570 flights out of a total of 1,047 scheduled flights were canceled at the airport, while Oslo, the capital of Norway, saw air traffic disrupted due to heavy snowfall.

A Frankfurt Airport spokesman explained that this cancellation came in preparation for improving severe weather conditions. In the afternoon hours, all flights departing from the airport were cancelled, while landing was still possible, but it was not immediately determined how long the flights would remain suspended.

In the evening hours, some flights resumed at Frankfurt Airport, but the airport warned of continued disruption to air traffic on Thursday. In a similar context, Munich Airport issued a warning in the morning about the impact of bad weather conditions on flights, as 250 flights out of a total of 650 scheduled flights were cancelled.

In northern France, heavy roads and heavy snow saw serious traffic disruption, leading to about 30 regions of France being placed on “orange alert,” a level indicating a high degree of preparedness.

In Norway, Oslo Airport was closed for about three hours on Wednesday afternoon, and most bus flights in the Norwegian capital were cancelled.

Rail operator Vy has announced that traffic has been halted in much of eastern Norway due to adverse weather conditions. In Sweden, heavy snow led to many traffic accidents in the west and south of the country, resulting in traffic congestion on main roads.

The police issued a warning stating that the road surface is considered very slippery, and advised citizens not to go out unless absolutely necessary. The National Meteorological Agency in Sweden also issued a warning for the capital, Stockholm, due to "strong winds accompanied by snowfall."

Cold waves are becoming rarer in Europe and on a global scale due to the effect of global warming, reducing their likelihood, duration and intensity, climate scientists report.

German national airline Lufthansa advised passengers to check their flight schedule before traveling to airports. The German Meteorological Service expects that the "Gertrude" depression, which will hit southwest and central Germany, will be accompanied by snowfall that may reach a thickness of 40 centimeters, and there will be possibilities for roads to become icy, which may cause "damage to the infrastructure."

State police reported "a large number of accidents on the roads near Baden-Baden (SW)", while the national railway company Deutsche Bahn decided to slow the movement of high-speed trains from 320 to 200 kilometers per hour due to weather conditions.

The German national airline Lufthansa has warned of delays and cancellations on its regional and long-haul network, especially between the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt in the west of the country. In an unfortunate accident, a 34-year-old vehicle driver collided with a tree and died after sliding on a country road in Rhineland-Palatinate in southwestern Germany.

The emergency services in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate announced their readiness to deal with possible road accidents, as they increased the number of their staff and the number of vehicles. It appealed to motorists not to use the roads except in cases of extreme necessity.

In large parts of Bavaria, schools are closed in preparation for dangerous winter conditions.

Source: Agencies