Europe Hammered by a Second Snowstorm

More on crazy weather throughout the world.

VIENNA, Austria - Europe's second snowstorm this week piled drifts onto railway tracks and roads Friday, slowing buses, trains and trams and stranding motorists. At least two people were killed in mass pileups and a week of icy weather was blamed for dozens of other deaths. In Poland, police said 23 people had frozen to death in recent days, with the last victim found Friday.
Heavy snowfall blocked roads in Poland's Katowice and Bielsko-Biala area in the south, and blanketed the Baltic coastal city of Gdansk, causing traffic jams and blocking city streets.
Swirling snow and thick fog enveloped most of Italy, and Florence recorded nearly 10 inches of snow _ the most it has seen in two decades. Temperatures in northern Italy dropped as low as -17 Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit). A 22-year-old homeless man was found dead, apparently of exposure, in Rome's main railway station Wednesday.
Forty vehicles piled up on icy asphalt on Hungary's busiest motorway, killing an 8-year-old boy and injuring 11 other people _ one of several mass crashes involving about 60 cars. Police said the accidents closed the interstate M1 connecting Budapest with Vienna.
Another 40-vehicle accident on a highway in neighboring Slovakia killed one person and left 22 injured, the TASR news agency reported.
Blizzards, ice and high winds prompted a nationwide weather warning in the Netherlands, and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, Europe's fourth- largest, was preparing to shut down some of its runways as thick cloud cover blew in.
Wind-driven snow in Austria piled high drifts onto railway tracks and left motorways treacherous, causing train delays and dozens of traffic accidents.
Utility crews in Austria's eastern Burgenland province reported that electricity had been restored by early Friday after winds toppled snow-laden trees onto power masts. Chain-equipped fire trucks patrolled roads, pulling dozens of vehicles out of ditches.
Two people died in France, apparently of exposure. Authorities in the western city of Le Mans reported the death of a 52-year-old woman on welfare who slept in a garden shed, and a homeless man was reported dead in Lyon.
With snow falling steadily in France, the national weather service issued road and weather warnings for 70 of the country's 80 regions. Some highways were closed and temperatures of -26 degrees Celsius (-15 Fahrenheit) were recorded in the eastern town of Mouthe, one of the country's cold spots. The storms left 110,000 homes without power in northern France and forced delays of up to two hours to international destinations after high-speed trains reduced speeds for safety reasons.
To the east, swirling, drifting snow led Czech authorities to contemplate closing several border crossings into Poland. In the eastern parts of the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, some main roads were shut to traffic, and long lines of vehicles formed on others.
In Berlin, most streets were buried in snow leaving residents picking their way though drifts and snow banks. Trains across much of the country were running irregularly, if at all.
In Switzerland, skies were clear _ and temperatures icy. The mercury plummeted to -35.9 Celsius (-32.6 Fahrenheit) overnight in the town of La Brevine in the Jura mountains for the country's coldest temperature this year.
In Britain, the mercury moved upward after days of subfreezing weather, and heavy snow turned to rain.
But temperatures as low as -12 Celsius (10.4 Fahrenheit) earlier in the week caused at least one death _ a man in his 40s in the town of West Bromwich. Early Friday afternoon, police supplied hot drinks to dozens of people trapped by drifts on a highway in East Yorkshire in northern England.