h/t Krishna Gans; A thousand kilometres (620 miles) of traffic jams in Paris.
Snow cripples air, train and road traffic in Amsterdam and Paris
By Bart H. Meijer and Charlotte Van Campenhout
January 6, 20265:53 AM GMT+10
- Hundreds of flights cancelled in Paris, Amsterdam
- Buses in Paris suspended
- 1,000 km of traffic jams in Paris
- Trains in Amsterdam come to a halt
AMSTERDAM, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Heavy snowfall disrupted air, road and rail travel in France and the Netherlands on Monday, as hundreds of flights were cancelled in the countries’ capitals, while trains around Amsterdam came to a standstill and bus services in Paris were suspended.
Amsterdam Schiphol airport, one of Europe’s busiest hubs, cancelled about 700 flights on Monday as the airport closed to incoming traffic until 1200 GMT due to the snow, a spokesperson said. During that time, planes were diverted to other airports.
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1,000 KM OF TRAFFIC JAMS IN PARIS
French transport minister Philippe Tabarot urged travellers to check if their flight was operating before leaving home, and to use public transport to reach the airport.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/amsterdam-airport-scraps-450-flights-due-snow-ice-anp-reports-2026-01-05/
A few days ago European MSM outlets were blaming the lack of snow on climate change;
‘Ghost resorts’: as hundreds of ski slopes lie abandoned, will nature reclaim the Alps?
Phoebe Weston in Céüze
Sat 27 Dec 2025 17.48 AEDTWith the snow line edging higher, 186 French ski resorts have shut, while global heating threatens dozens more
Phoebe Weston in Céüze
Sat 27 Dec 2025 17.48 AEDTShareWhen Céüze 2000 ski resort closed at the end of the season in 2018, the workers assumed they would be back the following winter. Maps of the pistes were left stacked beside a stapler; the staff rota pinned to the wall.
Six years on, a yellowing newspaper dated 8 March 2018 sits folded on its side, as if someone has just flicked through it during a quiet spell. A half-drunk bottle of water remains on the table.
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On the brink
The question of what to do with these places will play out across Europe’s mountains, and around the world. Skiing is disappearing from many alpine landscapes. “Many lower ones are already closed,” says Masson. “A fraction of a degree changes everything in the mountain environment. It’s the difference between having snow and no snow.”
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On winter weekends dozens of cars still gather in the car park, with people enjoying quieter activities on the hillside, such as walking, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and sledging.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/27/alps-france-skiing-snow-warming-resorts-closing-ceuze-landscape
Of course, that was Guardian last week. This week’s Guardian reports heavy snow in the Alps;
Weather tracker: Arctic air grips Europe as severe winds batter Corsica
Faye Hulton and Ed Walton for MetDesk
Mon 5 Jan 2026 20.15 AEDTSubzero temperatures, heavy snowfall and powerful gusts mark a harsh start to 2026 for many
It has been a cold start to the year across much of Europe, particularly in central regions, where temperatures dropped to double-digit negatives. Heavy snowfall hit parts of eastern and central Europe on New Year’s Eve, notably in Poland and Ukraine, with similar conditions across the Alps on the first few days of the year.
The cold is likely to continue this week as an Arctic air mass sinks south across Europe, pulling temperatures well below the seasonal average outside south-east Europe. Temperatures are expected to fall widely by about 5C (41F) below average, with some areas – such as parts of central and north-eastern Europe – up to 10C lower than the norm. When wind chill is taken into account, it will feel even colder.
In South Korea, the cold air mass brought snow, with Jeju island experiencing the greatest disruption. Flights and ferries were cancelled due not only to snow amounts, which reached more than 9cm in Jeju City, but also because of strong winds and significant wind shear.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/05/weather-tracker-arctic-air-grips-europe-winds-corsica
Let’s hope those mild winter hikers the “Ghost resorts” author wrote about got off the mountains safely.
No doubt if harsh winter conditions continue, some true believer will start writing about how climate change makes heavy snowfall more likely.
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