By - Dec 2, 2010 6:40 AM GMT+0530
Work is carried out to clear heavy snow around Edinburgh Airport. Photographer: Jeff Mitchell/Getty Images
Severe winter weather will continue to disrupt travel across Europe today as airports at cities including Geneva, London and Edinburgh remain shut and Eurostar trains operate a limited service amid heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures.
London’s Gatwick airport, the U.K.’s second busiest, will remain closed until at least 10 a.m. local time today, according to itswebsite. Geneva airport, which closed on Nov. 30, won’t open until at least 6 a.m., while Edinburgh airport won’t open its runway until at least 6 a.m. and Dublin airport remains shut.
The earliest widespread snowfall in Britain since 1993 has frozen over roads, disrupting traffic, with freezing weather likely to last until at least Dec. 8, according to British Weather Services. Temperatures are expected to drop as low as minus-14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Farenheit) in northwest Scotland this morning, while London and southeast England will see temperatures of about minus-3 degrees Celsius, the U.K.’s Met Office said on its website.
Eurostar Group Ltd., which runs high-speed trains between London, Paris and Brussels, canceled seven of its services between London and Paris for today and five between Paris and Brussels because of weather conditions, spokeswoman Lesley Retallack said by phone late yesterday. The company usually operates up to 18 daily services between London and Paris and up to 10 between Paris and Brussels.
Strong Tailwinds
Snowfall in Munich yesterday led the airport operator to clear two runways in turn, increasing cancellations to at least 250 and causing delays of more than an hour to 40 flights, spokesman Florian Steuer said. Frankfurt airport shut a runway because of strong tailwinds, and about 60 flights were called off as planes were stuck at other airports last night.
British Airways Plc said it canceled flights to New York from London City Airport yesterday, while the carrier’s planes out of its Heathrow hub were departing normally.
Parts of the U.K. may see as much as 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow by this morning, the Met office said. The southeast of England had 10 centimeters of snow as of last night.
London temperatures may decline as low as minus-6 degrees Celsius on Dec. 3 from yesterday’s minus-5 degrees, according to CustomWeather Inc. data. The minimum averaged 7 degrees above zero over the past 10 years, the data show.
Power for next-day delivery in the U.K., Europe’s biggest gas user, rose as much as 35 percent to its highest level since January 2009 yesterday as natural gas costs increased and the weather conditions boosted demand. French day-ahead electricity jumped to its highest level in five weeks.
(bloomberg)
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