Wunderground - 14 March 2013 - Christopher C. Burt
Blizzard conditions enveloped Caen, France in Calvados Department near the English Channel on March 12th.Photographer not identified.
A blizzard dropped up to 60 cm (24”) of snow in northern France and the Channel Islands of England on Monday and Tuesday this week. It was said to have been the deepest snow since 1987 in the Channel Islands and since 1970 in Normandy and Picardy in France. Extreme cold followed the snow with the lowest mid-March temperatures since 1845 reported in Belgium.
The storm affected not only France and England but Belgium, Holland, and Germany as well. Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s 3rd busiest aviation hub, was forced to close at one point on Tuesday (March 12th) when 12 cm (5”) of snow accumulated. At the Paris Orly Airport a Tunisair jet skidded off the runway causing delays and cancellations for hundreds of flights there. The Eurostar high-speed train between London, Paris and Brussels was also forced to suspend operations. In Normandy and Brittany (northern France) 2000 motorists were stranded in their cars overnight and 80,000 homes in the area lost power. Unusually cold air followed the snowfall with temperatures falling to -12°C (10.4°F) at Saughall, Aryshire in the U.K. and -13°C (8.6°F) at Eli, Netherlands. Brussels, Belgium measured its coldest temperature so late in the season since 1845 with a -12°C (9°F) reading on March 13th.
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