Snow swept Europe yesterday causing travel chaos in the continent’s north, shutting Bulgaria’s major Black Sea ports and leaving Italian cities blanketed in a rare covering.

Britain’s national weather service, the Met Office, said if the cold snap continued it would set a new record for the month after two bitterly cold weeks in early December.

With just days before Christmas, the weather conditions and plummeting temperatures caused disruption for road, rail and air travellers with huge motorway tailbacks in Germany and warnings from traffic police in some parts not to venture out except in an emergency.

In Britain and Northern Ireland some airports were closed, roads were blocked and rail services including the Eurostar were delayed.

Heavy snow forced the closure of Northern Ireland’s Belfast International Airport, while runways were also closed at Exeter in southwest England and briefly at London City airport, which serves the capital.

London’s Heathrow airport reported delays, although it was open and both runways were clear of snow. Low-cost airline easyJet, however, cancelled all flights to and from Gatwick airport near London before mid-morning today.

Delays were reported on trains nationwide and Eurostar trains between London and Paris and Thalys trains between London and Brussels were subject to speed restrictions causing delays of up to 30 minutes.

Christmas deliveries have already been hit hard, with a number of internet retailers stopping deliveries in Scotland.

Temperatures fell to an average of minus 0.7°C, some 4.9°C below the normal average for the month of December.

In Italy, rare snowfall disrupted the tourist destinations of Pisa and Florence, forced both airports to close and severely disrupted traffic and the region’s rail network.

Police escorted ambulances through the streets of Florence and flights were cancelled late morning due to poor visibility.

Snow also fell briefly over Rome, where temperatures had dropped overnight to below zero, causing water in the capital’s fountains to freeze.

In Ireland, the national meteorological service issued a severe weather warning that cold temperatures and widespread snow would continue into next week.

In Germany, snowfall caused motorway tailbacks of up to 40 kilometres. Some regions reported shortages of petrol as tankers got stuck.

More than 200 flights were cancelled at Frankfurt airport, the country’s busiest, and more than 100 at Munich airport in the south. Both of Berlin’s main airports also reported cancellations and serious delays with more heavy snow forecast.