Ireland escapes as big freeze grips Europe

AS Europe shivers, Ireland has been left out in the cold having just managed to escape the icy weather which has caused chaos across the continent.

Met Éireann said there is no serious chance of any major snowfalls in Ireland over the coming days and the weather should soon start to become milder.

"There may be snow in the Midlands and Ulster and this will cause some serious problems but they will be short-lived," a spokesman from Met Éireann said. "It is a lot colder than normal across Europe but Ireland has escaped a lot of this and we expect the weather to get milder over the next few days."

According to Met Éireann, tonight will be windy with rain heavy at times and there will be some rain around on Friday morning but this will clear and the rest of the day will be bright with sunny spells and some passing showers.

New Year's Eve looks like it will be a windy day with a mix of sunny spells and some heavy showers.

While we escaped the big freeze, France was hardest hit by blizzards that swept Europe. Temperatures plunged as low as 15°C and left thousands of motorists stranded or forced them into roadside shelters overnight.

Worst hit was northwestern France, where up to 10,000 people spent a chilly Tuesday night behind the wheel after traffic ground to a halt on a stretch of motorway between the towns of Toul and Nancy.

Up to six inches of snow and below-freezing temperatures hit some parts of Britain yesterday and the weather is expected to worsen there over the coming days. Kent and eastern England suffered the worst of the freezing conditions, which brought road closures and train cancellations.

The coldest place was Benson, Oxfordshire, where temperatures plunged to -8.2°C, Forecasters said temperatures were likely to drop further to as low as -10°C where snow lies on the ground.

The snow storms also created road chaos for commuters in Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic, caused train cancellations in Britain and delays at two German airports.

Snow also created traffic and rail havoc in Hungary.

In Austria snowfall is lighter, but many homes around Vienna lost power and one driver died when his car slid into a tree.