Maybe God is Trying To Tell Us Something

The snow shows no sign of stopping, however, and temperatures are expected to drop to -16C in Beijing today, causing more problems for those attempting to return to work after a three-day New Year holiday.

Clearing the way: A man uses a snowplough to clean the road at Seoul plaza downtown in the South Korean capital

Beijing began the working week after a blast of harsh cold and heavy snow blanketed the capital and surrounding cities over the weekend, paralysing highways and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.

As the cold snap moved east, swathes of the Korean peninsula were also hit by heavy snow choking up the rush-hour commute in Seoul, where the main domestic airport, Gimpo, cancelled all domestic flights.

INDIA

In the northern Indian plains, close to 100 people died in the cold wave keeping its grip with rain and snow in the mountainous regions, drastically bringing down temperatures.

The victims were mostly poor people forced to live rough, sleeping on the streets or in many cases out in the open with little or no covering.

The majority of the victims, about 72, were from the poorest and relatively underdeveloped Uttar Pradesh province, north of the federal capital, New Delhi, where state help was limited.

UNITED STATES

Freezing weather have gripped large parts of the U.S. with no relief in sight for the rest of the week.

The US experienced its coldest winter in nine years in December as snow storms swept across the country, said private weather forecaster Planalytics.

'Following the warmest November since 2001, the month of December 2009 ended the coldest since 2000,' a Planalytics analyst said.

The wind chill took the temperatures in Minneapolis, Minnesota, down to -17C.

F-f-fetch! A dog-walker wraps up warm in Minneapolis, where temperatures have plunged to -17C

While the upper Midwest is used to frigid weather, the sunshine state Florida is also suffering freezing temperatures.

The Panhandle and much of northern Florida is under a hard freeze warning, the National Weather Service says. The warning extended almost down to Tampa along the Gulf Coast.

Florida officials have been urging residents, visitors and farmers to prepare for temperatures near or below the freezing mark this week.

Along with the dangerously cold temperatures, residents in Montana are braced for blizzard conditions with snowfall of 12 to 20 inches possible across parts of the state.

Despite the dangerous cold, some people ventured out - especially parishioners at Holy Name Cathedral.

'It's God first. Even though weather is terrible, we've still got to go to church,' Alez Alverez told CNN.

In the Northeast, the Weather Service warned that a large storm off the New England coast would continue to bring heavy snow to much of central New York state.

RUSSIA

A country much more used to dealing with high levels of snow, Russia saw temperature lows of a chilling -20C in Moscow today.

Those travelling on trains at stations near the Russian city of Vorkuta, attempted to continue their journeys despite the freezing conditions.

 

A worker tries to clear the train tracks while a man, unaware of the train approaching him, attempts to cross

Workers also tried to sweep snow from the train tracks, but found it was falling too fast to clear.

However, two men making the most of the snow were Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who decided to take to the slopes in Krasnaya Polyana near the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia.

The duo donned heavy jackets and goggles as they skiied together, with Putin looking serious as the pair indulged in some seemingly serious political conversations.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on their skiing trip

The pair relax on a snowmobile after exerting themselves skiing

GERMANY

The snow caused more problems with flights in Germany, with one jet veering off the runway at Dortmund airport in western Germany.

The Air Berlin Boeing 737-800 braked to abort the take-off due to a 'technical  irregularity', but none of the 165 passengers and six crew members were injured.

All passengers and crew were left unharmed after the Air Berlin plane aborted its take-off

The plane was not damaged but flights from the airport were cancelled or diverted for a large part of the day.

Airline spokeswoman Diane Daedelow said: 'A combination of the snowy weather and the speed the plane was travelling at forced the plane to skid off the runway.'

Over 30 flights from Frankfurt airport were also cancelled this morning.

Snow covers the trees on the mountain Schauinsland in the Black Forest, Germany

Tourists photograph each other beside the snow-covered concrete steles at the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin