HELSINKI (AP) — Flights at Kittilä Airport were canceled Sunday due to freezing conditions, leaving thousands of tourists stranded in northern Finland.
After several days of similar cold weather, temperatures at the airport dropped to -37 degrees Celsius (-34.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday morning, causing difficulties in de-icing aircraft and other operations, Finland’s national public broadcaster Yle reported.
The sparsely populated city of Kittilä in northern Finnish Lapland is expected to experience a deep freeze on Monday, with the Finnish Meteorological Institute predicting temperatures approaching minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit).
Finns are generally used to cold winter temperatures, but this year’s cold, which is affecting large swaths of northern, central and eastern Europe, is more severe than usual.
Heavy snow, strong winds and icy roads are making travel difficult in parts of Europe.
In Germany, rail operator Deutsche Bahn closed all services in the country’s north on Friday due to heavy snow, and train passengers continued to experience lengthy delays and cancellations on Sunday.
All schools in the country’s most populous western state, North Rhine-Westphalia, will remain closed on Monday and move to online classes, authorities announced, after icy roads were expected in the region.
In the Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania, drivers were asked to postpone all non-essential travel in anticipation of blizzards, while neighboring Latvia issued a snow warning for the west of the country.
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This story corrects for Fahrenheit conversion.