Adam Vaughan / EPA
Sefton Park in Liverpool covered in snow
Snowstorms were causing major transport disruptions in the United Kingdom today and an “extremely serious” situation in Germany. A cold wave from the Arctic has dropped temperatures in the United States. In Kansas, the heaviest snowfall in a decade is expected.
Several centimeters of snow fell in England and Wales on Saturday night, French agency AFP reported.
In West Yorkshire, in northern England, the ground was covered by 12 centimeters of snow this morning, according to the British meteorological agency Met Office. Up to 40 centimeters of snow fell in some areas above 300 meters.
Manchester airport in the north reported on social media shortly after 7am that the lanes remained closed. “Operations will resume as soon as possible,” declared the airport operator, advising passengers to contact the airlines.
At Liverpool Airport, crews were “working hard to clear the runway”, which was also closed. This afternoon, the city hosts the English football league game that pits Liverpool ao Manchester United from the Portuguese coach Rúben Amorim.
Traffic has resumed at Birmingham and Bristol airports, where runways had been closed overnight.
The snow was also affect road trafficwith several roads and motorways closed in the north of England, and electricity was cut in several homes in England and Wales.
The weather agency predicted that the situation will improve in several regions of England today.
“Extremely serious” situation in Germany
Snow and frost also caused flight delays and cancellations in airports in Germanyincluding Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
The German Weather Service warned of an “extremely serious weather situation”, with freezing rain forecast during the day, following snowfall overnight.
One warm front crossing the country coming from the southwest is responsible for the risk of black ice, the layer of glassy ice that forms on roads and poses a danger to car traffic.
There were restrictions at several German airports this morning due to snow and slippery runways. They were 120 take-offs and landings canceled of around 1,090 planned for Sunday in Frankfurt, the largest German airport, located in the west of the country.
“The take-off and landing runways must be unimpeded and deicing planes is also more complex and demanding,” a spokesperson told AFP.
In Munich, 35 flights were canceled as a precaution on Saturday night, out of a total of 750 scheduled departures and landings at Germany’s second-largest airport, according to a spokesperson.
The disturbances It really started on Friday night at Berlin Brandenburg airport, with 30 flights disrupted, 17 of which were canceled due to icy conditions in the German capital. Stuttgart airport was also experiencing delays because the planes had to be de-iced.
Cold wave crosses USA
A storm hit the United States today, with millions of people in the east of the country threatened by blizzards and some places about to record the heaviest snowfall in a decade, according to meteorologists.
More than 60 million people are in the path of the stormwhich is expected to sweep the eastern half of the United States with arctic air through Monday and cause severe travel disruption.
The governors of Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia declared a state of emergency due to the storm, according to the French agency AFP.
“A disruptive winter storm will affect the Central Plains to the mid-Atlantic during Monday, with heavy snowfall and ice accumulation,” said the NWS, cited by AFP.
A cold wave coming from the Arctic It has plunged temperatures across the central and northeastern United States and is expected to move south next week, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service (NWS).
The NWS warned this Saturday of the development of a winter storm in the central and northeast regions until Monday, with “heavy snow” and “ice accumulations”.
The authority highlighted a greater impact on central states of Kansas and Missouri and warned of the danger of traveling on the roads due to low visibility and accumulation of snow.
The biggest snowfall in the last decade is expected in northern Kansas and Missouri, with accumulations of up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow, the NWS said.
The northwest of the USA was not affected by the storm, even recording above-normal temperatures in California, although the rest of the country faces below-average temperatures for this time of year, especially the southeastern states.
Already in New York, authorities urged people to prepare to temperatures of minus 26 degrees Celsius, freezing winds and snowfall in northern areas near Canada through tonight.
According to the NWS Texas office, temperatures remained warm Saturday in this state, but a cold front is expected through today.
