Extreme cold weather hit Europe with temperatures plummeting to a possible ten year low. According to media reports, a strange weather pattern, producing warming around the North Pole, is driving cold air south, resulting in snow and freezing temperatures in large parts of Europe. Rare snow in Rome and frozen shores of lake Geneva— in pictures.
'Beast from the east' blizzard blankets Europe in snow
Rare snow in Rome and frozen shores of lake Geneva— in pictures
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The water in a fountain frozen solid in central Malmo, Sweden
© EPA-EFE/Johan Nilsson A dog walks on ice covering a stair normally used by bathers to enter and leave the water on the shore of Lake Balaton in Fonyod, 148 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary
© EPA-EFE/Gyorgy Varga Kids play behind an icy bench on the frozen shore of Lake Geneva during a windy winter day, in Nyon, Switzerland
© EPA-EFE/VALENTIN FLAURAUD The ice covered Joe Siffert sculpture by Jean Tinguely, in Freiburg, Switzerland
© EPA-EFE/PETER SCHNEIDER A young Humboldt penguin enjoying snow flurry on Penguin Beach at ZSL London Zoo, London, Britain
© EPA-EFE/ZSL LONDON ZOO Icicles formed on a frozen waterfall near Pen y Fan mountain in Brecon Beacon National Park, Wales
© Ben Birchall/PA via AP Men posing as a centurions in front of the Colosseum covered by snow during a snowfall in Rome, Italy
© EPA-EFE/ANGELO CARCONI The Fori Imperiali is covered by snow during a snowfall in Rome, Italy
© EPA-EFE/ANGELO CARCONI Mimosa branches are covered with snow in Valbonne, southern France
© EPA-EFE/SEBASTIEN NOGIER People throw snowballs as they play in a snow blanketed St. Peter's Square at the Vatican
© AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino Snow covers the land around Maschio Angioino during cold weather in Naples, Italy
© EPA-EFE/CIRO FUSCO Municipal workers clear snow from a footpath in a street after heavy snowfall in Rome, Italy
© EPA-EFE/ANGELO CARCONI