One of the heaviest snowfalls in decades closed Madrid airport for only the second time in 80 years yesterday and brought traffic in the Spanish capital to a standstill. Airports operator AENA diverted 57 flights hundreds of kilometres to the north, south and east after closing Barajas airport, Europe's fourth busiest, for five hours. Two of the airport's four runways were reopened shortly before 5 p.m. (1600 GMT).

Barajas normally handles 1,200 flights a day and the closure heaped misery on Iberia passengers who have already suffered weeks of delays and cancellations because of industrial action by pilots.

Madrid's regional government called a meeting of its crisis committee and raised its warning level to orange - the second highest - as snow fell throughout the morning and settled on the capital's streets for the first time since February 2005.

A transport department spokesman said all Madrid's major highways were jammed as a result of the bad weather and the traffic chaos extended across the country.

The National Meteorology Institute said up to 10 centimetres of snow was expected to fall in Madrid yesterday and snow would settle on much of the country, particularly the north and east, during the weekend. Twenty eight provinces were put on a state of alert.

The high north and central Spanish plateau has deep snow every winter but, although Madrid lies 650 metres above sea level, the city's heat makes snow a rarity.

Television pictures showed a lone skier in San Sebastian gliding across the northern town's main beach and another skier followed suit in Madrid's Retiro park as children fought playful battles in the formal gardens.

Spain, like many other parts of Europe, has had an unusually cold autumn and winter so far.