Germany in coldest December in 40 years

Trees are covered in snow and hoar frost on December 30, 2010 near Oberhof, eastern Germany. The winter sport resort in the Thuringian Forest is to host the Tour de Ski cross country event taking place on December 31, 2010 and on January 1, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)Germany has experienced the coldest December in more than 40 years, the German Weather Service (DWD) said Thursday.

The average temperature in December was 4.3 degrees below the past records on average, the DWD said. People have never seen such a freezing December since 1969.

The bitter cold was mainly stuck in the north and east of the country, where night temperatures in many places were below minus 20 degrees, the weather agency added. A DWD monitoring station near northeastern city of Postdam recorded only four days when the temperatures were above zero degree this month.

The states of Bavaria and Hessen have witnessed 20 or 30 centimeters of fresh snow in one day, while capital Berlin received some 40 centimeters of snow since the beginning of this month, the most in 110 years.

Frankfurt city, Europe's traffic hub, also set a new historical record this month -- the amount of snow has accumulated to 59 centimeters since Dec. 1

For the first time since 1981, all people in every place of the country celebrated "a white Christmas" together in this December.

Rail transports and flight continued to face weather-related cancellations and delays throughout the country. "The situation cannot be end until Jan. 3," said a spokesperson of Deutsche Bahn (DB), the nation's railway operator.

Source: Xinhua