Europe begins the big thaw

Much of Europe began to return to normal today after days of harsh winter weather.

In Germany, schools along the Baltic Coast were closed and several parts of A20 in the country’s north-east, where more than 160 people were stuck for hours in the snow at the weekend, also remained closed.

The situation on the Baltic island of Fehmarn, where villages had been cut off from the outside world on the weekend, was less dramatic.

“With the exception of five villages, we have cleared all the roads,” a city official said.

At Frankfurt airport, where more than 300 flights were cancelled in the last two days, only nine flights had to be cancelled today. All three runways were being used despite light snowfall.

The prolonged cold spell raised some concerns for Germany’s economy, Europe’s biggest, which has returned to modest growth after a deep recession.

“The cold weather conditions could seriously spoil the beginning of 2010 for us in growth terms,” Volker Treier, the chief economist at the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, said in comments posted on the group’s website.

The cold and snow have put building work on ice – affecting not only construction companies but also suppliers.

Over the weekend, winter weather crippled natural gas production in Norway, where the temperature dropped as low as minus 42C.

Production at the Ormen Lange natural gas field came to a halt over the weekend “as a result of the continual severe weather in Norway,” said a spokeswoman for operator Shell. It was unclear when the field might come back online.

Meanwhile, ice-clogged pipes at the Kaarsto natural gas processing plant on Norway’s west coast left the facility operating at just over half its capacity.

Madrid and much of central Spain were blanketed in snow and children due back to school after the Christmas break were given an extra day of holiday, although teaching centres were open for those who managed to make it.

Spain’s airport authority, AENA, said more than 100 flights to and from Madrid were cancelled between midnight and noon due to snow and fog, mostly domestic flights but also some from the rest of Europe.

In Poland, railway officials said power lines snapped under the weight of the ice and local trains were cancelled or suffered lengthy delays.

South-eastern Denmark was also hit by snow, causing the closure of roads and schools on the southern tip of the Zealand island where Copenhagen sits and the islands of Lolland and Falster.

Buses stopped running and police recommended that people stay home unless necessary.