While Ireland basks in Mediterranean-style late autumn weather, a blast of Siberian air is being blamed for cold weather sweeping the Mediterranean. Snow has blanketed many regions from Andalusia to the Aegean, and Greek weather forecasters are confidently predicting a white Christmas.
Heavy snow has fallen in north-eastern Spain since Friday and firefighters have had to rescue stranded motorists. At least 50 lorry drivers spent a night in a tunnel near Barcelona.
The heavy snow has practically isolated the northern-eastern region of Catalonia, from the rest of Spain, although the Spanish Meteorological Institute expects the severe cold wave to have eased by today.
On Corsica, nearly a dozen mountain villages remained inaccessible yesterday, four days after snowfall triggered a major relief operation. Roads into the mountains are still blocked, nearly 4,000 homes are without electricity and 2,500 have no telephone connection.
Italy is also experiencing an unusually cold spell since Thursday.
St Mark's Square and the gondolas of Venice are covered in snow and many small towns in southern Italy have been isolated by the heavy snowfalls.
Snow, gale-force winds and heavy rain yesterday swept across Greece for a third day. Snow and temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees have shut all airports in northern Greece, including Thessaloniki international airport. Road workers struggled to keep open the road between Athens and Thessaloniki despite 40 cm of snow in places.
Many major roads are closed, ships remain in port, 500 villages are snowed in and all schools in the north-west have been closed.