Ireland

Heavy snowfall in the mountains of the northern Peloponnese on Friday caused numerous problems on the rural road network.

On the Pounta-Kalavryta road, a tour bus carrying 34 passengers and a number of cars were forced to halt for several hours in heavy snowfall as they waited for conditions to clear and allow them to continue their journeys safely.

The heaviest snowfall in four years in Britain caused travel mayhem on Dec. 10, while more than 300 flights were cancelled at Germany’s busiest airport and a ferry ran aground in the French port of Calais.

Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadar warned that Northern Ireland is about to go under the direct command of Britain, The Irish Times writes.

Seven people died on Thursday in a storm that had hurricane winds in northern and eastern Germany, knocked down trees and cranes, and cut off rail transport, France press and DPA reported.

In Hamburg a tree fell over a car in which there were two women. One is dead and the other is admitted to a hospital.

Three people died and ten more were wounded after the roof of a tent collapsed under the pressure of snow in the yard of a popular mosque in Istanbul, reported Focus agency.

A witness to the tragedy stated that the people present had been warned of the danger and that the incident caused panic.

The entire republican road network in the region of Razgrad is closed for all types of vehicles. There is heavy snowfall in the region, while visibility has been reduced to a few metres, reported the Regional Road Department.

A serious deterioration in the weather conditions will start from Thursday and it will effect especially Northern Greece and then the rest of the country, just days after the previous wave of bad weather.

The phenomena will reach Crete and chances are that it will be snowing simultaneously in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larisa and probably Patra and Agrinio!

Istanbul Governor's Office has urged people living in the metropolis to avoid going outside unless necessary in a written statement, citing the expectation of heavy snowfall lasting from noon on Dec. 30 until early Jan. 2, 2016.

A heatwave entered Balkan countries from the west early this week and the next few days are expected to be the hottest so far this year.

In Romania, the authorities issued a warning that the country was entering a so-called "yellow" phase of heat alert, meaning temperatures above 30 degrees celsius and high levels of ultra-violet radiation.

Local rain, scattered showers and snow on higher elevations and northern Greece with weather becoming milder later in the day. Mainly northern winds of 4-6 Beaufort rising temporarily to 9 in the Aegean Sea. Temperatures will be from 2 to 18C.