Staff Sgt. Robert Schoonover, of the 721st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, works on a faulty engine sensor on a C-17 at Ramstein's flight line Monday. Snow swept across northern Europe, causing delays at commercial airports and major traffic problems. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Staff Sgt. Robert Schoonover, of the 721st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, works on a faulty engine sensor on a C-17 at Ramstein's flight line Monday. Snow swept across northern Europe, causing delays at commercial airports and major traffic problems. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Families skate across a snow covered pond in Ramstein-Miesenbach Monday. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Senior Airman Keith Allen, a crew chief with the 721st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, stows a piece of equipment Monday on Ramstein's snow-covered flight line. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
The first snow of the New Year swept across northern Europe on Monday, putting the brakes on commutes, causing delays at some of the continent’s major airports and extending the holidays for some schoolchildren.
As much as 5 inches of snow were expected to fall on some U.S. bases in Germany by Monday evening, according to the Air Force’s 21st Operational Weather Squadron at Sembach Air Base, Germany.
Most U.S. bases in the country were expected to get at least 2 inches before bedtime.
About 4 inches of snow had fallen by midday in Belgium, where students in the Army garrison of Brussels got the day off from school. Much of the United Kingdom also got blasted.
Heavy snow in western Germany grounded flights at Düsseldorf for three hours, and more than 30 flights were canceled. Flights from Frankfurt were delayed as much as an hour because of weather.
Military flight operations at Ramstein Air Base were continuing Monday afternoon.
"This is Germany; you just expect it," said Army Staff Sgt. Fortunet Wilson as he supervised a group of soldiers moving bedding into a building Monday afternoon at Kleber Kaserne in Kaiserslautern.
Traffic ground to a halt in the morning on some of Germany’s autobahns as snowplows struggled to clear the roads amid heavy post-holiday traffic. A line of cars and trucks more than 30 kilometers long clogged a major artery near Hannover in the country’s north.
Continued freezing temperatures mean the snow could persist.
On Tuesday "we have another high pressure system moving in from the north which is going to bring just some more cold air," said 2nd Lt. Kari Kundert of the 21st OWS.
Temperatures in Grafenwöhr and Vilseck, Germany, could fall into the single digits Wednesday, according to the squadron’s Web site.
There is a slight possibility of some light snow later in the week, Kundert said, but motorists should be on the lookout for early morning fog in much of Germany.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
