Cold brings chaos to Europe

On Saturday, large parts of central Europe were hit by black ice. In the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania (above), police closed several motorways after numerous accidents. In Lower Saxony, in northwestern Germany, two people died in a head-on collision. In France, four people died when a bus slid off the road near Lyon. Some 20 people were injured.

Black ice occurs when raindrops are so cold that they freeze while coming down to earth. This can turn pavements or roads into dangerous patches of ice within seconds or minutes. Drivers of vehicles are not the only ones in danger!

Sleet can also crystallize on aircraft. The added weight can become a serious danger in the air. But in Istanbul, Turkey, hundreds of planes remained grounded at the city's two airports not because of sleet, but because of a heavy snowstorm. Road traffic also almost came to a halt at times.

Temperatures in eastern Europe have dipped far under freezing point. During the winter months, more than 100 people freeze to death here every year. Most of them are homeless people. This winter, according to Human Rights Watch, some 2,000 refugees are sleeping out in the open or in tents in Serbia (above) and Hungary - at temperatures of currently -20 C (-4 F).

Winter has also come to the Greek island of Lesbos. In the refugee camp there (above), authorities handed out blankets and fan heaters to migrants and opened heated halls and underground stations for homeless people. Snow is very rare on the Greek islands. Local media in the port city of Rethymno on Crete said it snowed there for the first time in 40 years on Sunday morning.

Russia, on the other hand, is very used to bone-chilling temperatures. Many people there - as here in Moscow - make a virtue of necessity and have fun in the cold. But people freeze to death here every year as well. And the temperatures are extremely low at present, going down to -50 C in some places - some 15 degrees less than is usual at this time of year.

The morning after the black ice, thick fog envelops much of central Europe. The Rhine can barely be seen from the windows of Deutsche Welle in Bonn, even though the river is just some 200 meters (yards) away. And the forecasts remain gloomy: Temperatures are meant to rise in the next few days, but winter could still be in for the long - and very cold - haul.