Airports closed as Europe shivers in fresh snowfalls

Thursday, December 02, 2010

LONDON: More heavy snowfalls forced the closure of some of Europe’s busiest airports and chaos on the roads on Wednesday as forecasters warned there would be no let-up in the freezing temperatures until next week. Temperatures dropped to as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of Germany, while driving rain in Italy triggered the collapse of two Roman walls in Pompeii and flooding in Venice. Britain, shivering in the earliest widespread snowfalls of winter since 1993, was one of the countries worst affected with two of its major transport hubs scrapping all flights. London’s Gatwick Airport, Europe’s eighth busiest passenger air hub, was shut until at least 0600 GMT on Thursday as staff worked to clear the two runways. Edinburgh Airport, Scotland’s busiest was also shut due to heavy snow showers. A spokeswoman for Gatwick said they had about six inches (15 centimetres) of snow to clear. “We brought in extra people to try to clear the runway.