Thousands of tourists stranded in northern Finland as deep freeze halts flights

A person walks past a digital display showing a temperature of minus 33C in Yllas, Finland (Satu Renko/Lehtikuva via AP)

Thousands of tourists are stranded in northern Finland after flights at Kittila airport were cancelled due to severe cold.

The temperature at the airport dropped to minus 37C on Sunday morning, after several days of similar frigid weather, making de-icing of aircraft and other operations difficult, Finland’s national public broadcaster Yle reported.

The deep freeze is expected to continue in Kittila, which is located in Finnish Lapland in the sparsely populated north, on Monday, when the Finnish Meteorological Institute predicts temperatures of almost minus 40C.

People walk in freezing temperatures in Yllas, Finland (Satu Renko/Lehtikuva via AP)

Finns are generally used to frosty winter temperatures but this year’s cold, which has affected wide regions of northern, central and eastern Europe, is more severe than in other years.

Heavy snowfall, high winds and icy roads have made travel difficult in parts of Europe.

In Germany, train passengers were still experiencing long delays and cancellations on Sunday after rail operator Deutsche Bahn shut down all services in the north of the country on Friday due to strong snowfall.

Two people pull sledges in the Wolfsschlucht gorge near Prum, Germany (Harald Tittel/dpa via AP)

Authorities announced that all schools would remain closed and switch to online classes on Monday in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populous western state, after forecasts of icy roads across the region.

In the Baltic countries of Estonia and Lithuania, drivers were asked to postpone all non-essential travel because of expected blizzards, while neighbouring Latvia issued a snow alert for the west of the country.