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Travel chaos worldwide as heavy snow blankets European cities to Hawaiian peaks

Travel chaos worldwide as heavy snow blankets European cities to Hawaiian peaks

Travel was halted across Europe Saturday as heavy snow blanketed cities and freezing temperatures set in following a week of deadly early-season storms.

Flights were grounded in Munich and Dublin Saturday after a winter storm dumped snow across southern Germany and parts of Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, disrupting travel across the continent.

Hundreds of flights in and out of Munich were canceled and not expected to resume until Sunday morning, the airport announced.

Video captured airplanes and the tarmac at Munich Airport blanketed in white as crews worked to clear the wintery mess.

Delays of an hour or more were reported at London, Vienna and Zurich airports, according to tracking service Flightaware.

Ten Dublin flights were canceled, including one arriving from Munich and another departing to Amsterdam, as snow and icy conditions made for treacherous conditions, the Irish Independent reported.

Heavy snow fell across Europe, including in Germany, where travel was halted and people reported injuries. AP

Glasgow Airport suspended all flights Saturday morning due to “heavier than forecast snow,” but resumed flight operations several hours later, it said on X.

In Austria and Switzerland, the snow led officials to sound the alarm for potential avalanches.

Sporting events across the UK were canceled, including 11 Scottish soccer matches.

In the past week, 10 people died in snowstorms that rocked Ukraine, leaving some trapped in thousands of stranded vehicles, according to officials.

The Guardian reported that 1,500 towns and villages in the war-ravaged nation were left without power, with one snowstorm in Odesa leaving 2,500 people needing to be rescued and about 850 vehicles requiring towing.

Four people were reported dead in Moldova as the result of snowstorms. Two of the bodies were recovered from cars buried in snow drifts.

Winter even arrived atop the summits of Hawaii, which saw the first flakes of the season due to the Kona Low weather system that brought heavy rain to lower elevations starting Wednesday.

It is expected to slow over the weekend, according to Fox Weather.

The inactive volcano Mauna Kea, which stands at an elevation of 13,800 feet, received around 5 inches of snow. Mauna Kea Weather Center

Before weakening, the system drenched eastern Maui with a much-needed 10 inches of rain and 2 feet of rainfall soaked the Big Island.

The inactive volcano Mauna Kea received around 5 inches of snow on Thursday.

“It was winter kicking off on top of the summit, just like we’re seeing elsewhere in the US this time of year,” Fox Weather meteorologist Samantha Thomas told The Post.

While those patterns can be expected, experts are keeping an eye on several feet of snow continuing to fall through Saturday in Oregon and Washington.

Heavy snow will be confined to higher elevations, causing an increased flood risk for western-facing slopes of the Cascades.

Heavy snow confined to high elevations in Washington and Oregon can cause rain and flooding in those areas. Getty Images/iStockphoto

“Put simply, now you’re getting tons of heavy rain falling on top of the feet of snow that just fell which adds to a bigger flood threat. So that’s going to be the concern as we go into Sunday, Monday and Tuesday across the Pacific Northwest,” Thomas said.

The heavy rain and high elevation snow will continue in the Pacific Northwest, Rockies and parts of the Great Basin through the weekend, the National Weather Service forecast.

As for the East Coast, New Yorkers can expect more rain through the weekend. Getty Images

Rain will also return to the New York area overnight and continue through Sunday, with up to an inch possible and temperatures in the low 50s. The sun is expected back on Monday, but the thermometer will stay in the low 50s.

With Post wires

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