Thousands of tourists stranded in northern Finland as deep freeze halts flights
HELSINKI (AP) — Thousands of tourists were stranded in northern Finland after flights at Kittilä airport were canceled Sunday. severe cold.
The temperature at the airport dropped to minus 37 degrees Celsius (minus 34.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday morning, after several days of similar cold weather conditions that made de-icing planes and other operations difficult, Finland’s national public broadcaster Yle reported.
A deep freeze is expected to persist in Kittilä, a sparsely populated northern city in Finnish Lapland, on Monday, when the Finnish Meteorological Institute predicts temperatures will reach almost minus 40 C (minus 40 F).
Finns are usually used to cold winter temperatures, but this year’s cold affected large areas of northern, central and eastern Europe, It is more severe than other years.
Heavy snowfall, high winds and icy roads have made travel difficult in parts of Europe.
Train passengers in Germany were still facing long delays and cancellations on Sunday after rail operator Deutsche Bahn closed all services in the north of the country on Friday due to heavy snowfall.
Authorities announced that all schools in the country’s most populous western state, North Rhine-Westphalia, will remain closed and switch to online classes on Monday, following predictions that roads in the region will be icy.
In the Baltic countries Estonia and Lithuania, drivers were asked to postpone all non-essential travel due to the expected snowstorm, while neighboring Latvia issued a snow warning for the west of the country.
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This story fixes the Fahrenheit conversion.
