The Arctic freeze gripping Europe left hundreds of people stuck in vehicles in deep snow or stranded at airports with scores of flights cancelled and power cuts to thousands of homes yesterday.
The unusually harsh conditions are caused by a rare combination of relatively warm humid air from the Mediterranean meeting cold air from the north and east, meteorologist Michel Daloz from Meteo France said.
The weather, blamed on a rare depression that forecasters labelled "Daisy", unleashed blizzards in north Germany that left motorways, other roads and railways impassable at certain points. Hundreds found themselves stuck in their cars and lorries in snow, or in trains, overnight, authorities said.
The treacherous conditions cut off villages in northern Germany and on the Baltic islands, and disrupted rail traffic with Eurostar still only able to run two out of three trains under the English Channel.
"The situation is not expected to get any better today. Throughout Germany accidents continue to happen, with cars and trucks at right angles blocking the roads," Maxi Hartung from the German Automobile Association said.
"Daisy" dumped even more snow on Germany yesterday, particularly in the northeast, and forecasters warned of more to come today, with heavy snow showers expected to spread southwards. School was cancelled for today in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, while snowsdrifts up to two metres high meant many villages were "left to their own devices," police said.
The whole nation was blanketed with snow, whipped up in some places by strong winds. Leipzig in the east shivered under 29 centimetres of snow, Berlin had 27 centimetres and Hamburg in the northwest 12 centimetres.
Dozens of villages in rural Schleswig-Holstein state and on the Baltic Sea islands were completely cut off, while more than 1,000 car accidents have been reported across Germany in recent days, several of them fatal.
Air travel was hit as well, with 91 flights cancelled since midnight (2300 GMT) at Frankfurt airport, Europe's third busiest, after 255 flights were scrapped on Saturday, a spokesman said.
Britain, in the grip of its coldest winter in 30 years, had less fresh snow than feared overnight, but forecasters warned it could be back with a vengeance later yesterday.
After 50 cancellations at London Heathrow on Saturday, more flights were scrapped at British airports yesterday. At least 26 people have died from the frigid weather, according to British media.
In London, the Serpentine swimming lake in Hyde Park was closed for the first time in about 140 years. Seven English Premier League football matches were cancelled, as well as all but one Premiership rugby union fixture.
In France, fresh snow and freezing rain made for another day of disruption, with 800 people including 500 British tourists on their way to a skiing break in the French Alps forced to spend the night at Lyon airport.
Around 3,000 homes in southeastern France were without power for a second day, while icy conditions caused numerous accidents on roads around Paris, prompting the closure of motorway sections and a ban on lorries.
Later in the day, however, conditions had improved enough for French road authorities to lift a "status orange" state of alert across much of the country.