Cold air digs in across Europe

The weather has finally turned wintry across much of Europe.

Cold air has pushed south, ramming the mild conditions out of the way and causing the temperatures to drop like a stone.

Paris and London had previously been enjoying temperatures of 15 or 16C, but on Saturday, the maximum will only be 5 or 6C.

As the cold weather marched southwards, it reacted vigorously with mild air.

This produced an intense weather system, which gave torrentially heavy downpours across a swath of Europe, from France to Russia.

As the rain fell, the temperature continued to drop and the rain turned increasingly to snow. This was welcome news to skiers, who have been lamenting the recent mild weather.

Up to 11cm of snow has already been reported on the La Dole mountain in northern Switzerland, and there is more still to come.

The heaviest deposits are expected in the northern and western mountains, where over a metre of fresh snow is expected by the time the clouds clear on Monday.

Unfortunately, the southern Alps are expected to miss out on the heaviest snow, but a drop in temperature is still likely. This will allow the generation of artificial snow, which should go some way to keeping the skiers happy.