Snow storms were causing major transport disruptions in the United Kingdom and Germany this Sunday, which led to the closure of airports in the English cities of Manchester and Liverpool.
Several centimeters of snow fell in England and Wales on Saturday night, reported .
In West Yorkshire (northern England), the ground was covered by 12 centimeters of snow this Sunday morning, according to the British meteorological agency Met Office.
Up to 40 centimeters of snow fell in some areas above 300 meters.
Manchester airport (north) reported on social media shortly after 7am (same time in Lisbon) that the runways remained closed.
“Operations will resume as soon as possible,” declared the airport operator, advising passengers to contact the airlines.
At Liverpool airport (north), teams were “working hard to clear the runway”, which was also closed.
This Sunday afternoon, the city hosts the Liverpool-Manchester United game in the English football league.
Traffic has resumed at Birmingham and Bristol airports, where runways had been closed overnight.
The snow was also affecting road traffic, with several roads and highways closed in northern England overnight.
Electricity was cut to several homes in England and Wales.
The meteorological agency predicted that the situation will improve this Sunday in several regions of England.
The snow and frost also caused delays and cancellations of flights at airports in Germany, including Munich (southeast), Frankfurt (west) and Stuttgart (southwest), 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.
A warm front crossing the country 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 Sunday morning due to snow and slippery runways.
120 take-offs and landings were canceled out of around 1,090 scheduled for Sunday in Frankfurt, the largest German airport, located in the west of the country.
“The take-off and landing runways must be clear and de-icing planes is also more complex and demanding,” a spokesperson told AFP.
In Munich (south), 35 flights were canceled as a precaution on Saturday night, out of a total of 750 scheduled departures and landings at the second largest German airport, according to a spokesperson.
The disruptions began on Friday night at Berlin Brandenburg airport, with 30 flights interrupted, 17 of which were canceled due to icy conditions in the German capital.
Stuttgart airport was also experiencing delays because planes had to be de-iced.
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