Germany, UK struggle with blast of wintry weather

Strong wind, freezing rain, and heavy snow brought transport chaos to Germany on the weekend, with flights to neighboring countries badly affected.

Mountain ranges in the west of the country were forecast to experience snowfall of up to 10 centimeters in just a few hours, before the conditions turned to freezing rain, said the German Meteorological Service.

Temperatures could drop as low as minus 8 C, and wind speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour were expected in exposed regions.

Flights in and out of Munich, Stuttgart, and the country's busiest airport, Frankfurt, were all impacted, with short-notice cancelations being announced for flights to destinations including Paris, Prague, and Venice. Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport said that of 1,090 planned takeoffs and landings on Sunday, 120 had been cancelled.

Transport services across the United Kingdom were also disrupted as national weather forecasting bureau the Met Office put warnings in place for different parts of the country, including two amber warnings, which cover the possibility of potential risk to life.

Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester airports all suffered partial closures, with flight-tracking website Flightradar24 reporting that in the early hours of Sunday, at least 12 planes scheduled to land at Manchester had to be diverted to London, Glasgow, or even Paris.

Utility company National Grid said there had been some power outages in cities including Cardiff, Birmingham, and Bristol, and police forces in Wiltshire and Avon and Somerset, in the west of England, advised against unnecessary road travel because of dangerous driving conditions.

Stuart Irons, a national incident liaison officer with road maintenance agency National Highways, told the BBC on Sunday that 500 gritting trucks were being deployed to keep roads across the whole country passable.

"Predominately, it is snowing quite heavily in the north. The rest of the network is looking quite well, it is starting to ease from the Midlands down," he said, warning that a bigger concern might be what happened later. "But, obviously, as it does start to ease and it does thaw out, there is a risk of flooding and there could be some freezing conditions later so we are advising motorists to be aware of areas with excess water."

The UK's National Health Service has warned that the wintry conditions could increase strain on its resources at what is already a busy time of year, with a fourfold increase in hospitalizations caused by the flu virus having been reported at the start of the month.

Temperatures are expected to drop again on Monday, with the potential for more transport disruption, just as many schools reopen and people return to work after the Christmas holidays.