Heavy snowfall and freezing rain have led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights in Germany - with one airport forced to shut completely.
At Frankfurt airport, the country’s biggest, more than 500 flights were cancelled and Munich saw more than 250 arrivals and departures scrapped.
Dusseldorf and Cologne/Bonn airports were also affected by delays and cancellations.
Meanwhile, Saarbruecken airport, in the western part of Germany, had to close for the whole day.
The weather also caused chaos for trains, accidents on icy roads and even school closures across the country.
National train operator Deutsche Bahn scrapped several long-distance connections and announced that the maximum speed of its fast ICE train would be limited to 124mph due to the extreme weather.
The freezing rain across western and southern Germany also led to countless crashes on icy roads in the early hours of Wednesday.
As a precaution, many schools and kindergartens in the country closed for the day, and some companies offered their employees the option of working from home.
According to provisional recordings by the Met Office, the mercury fell to as low as minus 13C in Glen Ogle, central Scotland, while -11C was recorded at Tulloch Bridge in the Scottish Highlands.
It comes as temperatures plunged to -13C in the UK, on the coldest night of the winter.
Forecasters had predicted some snow-covered parts of Scotland could reach -15C overnight, which would have been the coldest January night for 14 years.
The last time temperatures dropped that low was in January 2010, when -22.3C was recorded.
Freezing temperatures and snow will continue for much of Britain this week because of cold Arctic air before “potentially disruptive” stormy weather lands over the weekend.
The Met Office is forecasting temperatures barely above freezing in London on Wednesday, dipping as low as -3C overnight into Thursday.
A "cold plunge of Arctic air" has moved south across the whole country over the past few days, making it 5C to 6C lower than usual for this time of year, Meteorologists said.
Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are in place across Scotland, much of northern England and parts of North Wales until Thursday, then more mild temperatures are forecast along with wind and rain.
