LONDON - Europe shivered under the lash of a snowy pre-Christmas cold snap on Friday that closed airports, caused chaos on the roads and gave some school kids an early start to their holidays.
The Swiss canton of Grisons recorded a record low temperature of minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, and early snow was seen across the continent from the white cliffs of Dover to the Black Sea.
Two of London's airports were closed overnight after heavy snow fell across south and east England, with a score of incoming flights being diverted to other British destinations.
Gatwick and Luton airports were later able to reopen after workers cleared snow from their runways, but forecasters warned of a repeat of the bad weather over the weekend.
More than 1,500 British schools closed early on the last day of term, giving pupils an early start to their Christmas holidays, as between five and 15 centimetres of snow fell in some areas.
Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, eastern England, where she arrived on Wednesday for the annual Christmas celebrations with the rest of the royal family, was also hit by heavy snowfall.
Hundreds of drivers had to spend the night in their cars in Kent in southeast England, while police in neighbouring Essex reported 180 accidents.
In Greece, an Italian engineer was killed Thursday by a landslide caused by recent heavy rains.
The engineer was working on a tunnel on the country's main highway linking the capital Athens and the northern city of Salonika. Officials say it will now remain closed for at least several weeks.
Romania was also hit by a thick blanket of snow that caused major transport problems and led to power blackouts in some areas of the southeastern European country.
Most flights from Bucharest airport were delayed, some by as much as two and a half hours, and many train services from the capital were cancelled.
The winter snows also caused major disruption in Paris, with officials asking airlines to cancel 20 percent of their flights into and out of the main Charles de Gaulle airport until Friday evening.
Flight delays because of the bad weather were up to three hours in Charles de Gaulle and Orly airport, airline officials said.
Nine hundred passengers had to spend the night in the airport after their flights were cancelled on Thursday. Officials said there was no available room in nearby hotels. Travellers were given mattresses, bedclothes and food.
Officials said they expected flights schedules to get back to normal later Friday. Road traffic in Paris was largely unaffected by the snow, but cities and motorways elsewhere faced major disruption.
Transport in the southwestern city of Toulouse ground to a halt for a couple of hours after early morning snow and ice.
Public transport was disrupted in towns in the northern Normandy and Britanny regions, and officials banned trucks from snow-clogged motorways.
French meteorologists warned of more snow and ice over the weekend for most of northern France.
In Belgium, dozens of flights were cancelled at Brussels international airport after snow falls and ice on runways. Around 30 outbound flights and 70 incoming flights were cancelled, while dozens more were flagged with delays.
Road traffic, after hundreds of kilometres of jams overnight, had returned to near normal early Friday.
Train services were barely affected by the snowfalls, although rail operator Infrabel warned passengers to take particular care of ice on platforms.
In London, bookmakers William Hill lowered the odds on the capital being covered in snow on Christmas Day next Friday to 9/4, from 8/1 ten days ago.