Berlin sees most snow in December since 1900s

BERLIN, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- German capital Berlin has experienced more snow this month than any other December of past 110 years, as more bitter cold is expected in the country's east, the German Weather Service (DWD) said Tuesday.

Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg have never seen such a thick snow in December for more than a century, as some places received 40 centimeters of snow since Dec. 1, the weather agency said.

Snow embraced the capital city, which has a population of 3.4 million people, on this year's Christmas, while the last white Christmas that Berliners remembered was in 2001, with only 10 centimeters of snow on the ground.

Heavy snowfalls will continue in parts of Germany in the coming days. The DWD said temperatures would plummet to minus 20 degrees Celsius in the east this week, or even colder. Fresh snowfalls may set new depth records in some places. However, temperatures in the west are more modest, from minus two to two degrees on Wednesday.

Local police warned that people, especially the homeless, would freeze to death on such freezing cold nights in the country's east, since a frozen 16-year-old girl in Lower Saxony was found dead in the open air on Saturday night.

Due to the large-scale snowfall, rail transports and flights may encounter delays or cancellations, and long traffic jams are expected on roads.

Local media said about 2,100 snow-clearers would work overnight to remove snow from roads in the city as they extended night shifts and bring forward early ones.

Editor: Xiong Tong
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/29/c_13668400.htm