A woman walks with her child along a snow-covered path in Alexandra Parkin Manchester, as cold weather grips the UK, on 6 January 2026; Credit: Reuters/Temilade Adelaja

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Freezing weather gripped swathes of Europe on Tuesday 6 January 2026, with snow and icy conditions forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights in the Netherlands and leading to the deaths of five people on French roads.

All domestic rail services in the Netherlands were suspended early on Tuesday after an IT outage compounded disruption across the country's rail network. Trains began running in parts of the country after 10:00 CET, but problems persisted in the region around Amsterdam, a popular tourist destination.

High-speed Eurostar services to Paris from Amsterdam were either cancelled or running late. At the city's Schiphol airport, over 400 flights were cancelled, most of them by the Dutch unit of Air France-KLM, as the winter weather crippled traffic at one of Europe's main transit hubs for a fifth day.

"We haven't experienced such extreme weather conditions in years," KLM spokesperson Anoesjka Aspeslagh told Reuters.

A birthday in transit

Stranded at Schiphol, Simiao Sun said she feared she would spend her 40th birthday in transit, and had been told she would have to wait three days for a rescheduled flight to Beijing.

"My child would miss school and we would both miss work so I'm queuing here... hoping to get a slightly earlier flight."

Spanish national Javier Sepulveda said he was trying to get back to his home in Norway for the third day. He said he started queuing at the KLM help desk at 06:30 on Tuesday and that six hours later he was still not close to the front of the line.

"I can only describe the situation ... as chaotic, insane," the 39-year-old said.

KLM said it was offering alternative flights where possible and doing everything to help travellers, but it was "overwhelmed with inquiries."

Snow falls over large parts of Germany and France

In Germany, temperatures fell well below -10 °C in the south and east early on Tuesday. Much of the country was covered in snow.

Parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany were bracing for another snow-carrying storm to hit on Thursday and Friday.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot urged people to travel as little as possible on the roads and to work from home.

Five people have been killed in road accidents linked to the freezing conditions since Monday, BFMTV and other French media reported.

Snow-laden tree crushes woman in Sarajevo

Meanwhile, in the UK, the Meteorological Office on Monday said winter weather hazards could continue throughout the week for most of the country. It issued an amber warning, its second-most severe after red, for snow in central Scotland.

It said temperatures overnight to Tuesday had fallen as low as -12.5 °C in Marham, Norfolk, in east England, marking the coldest night of the winter in the country so far.

Heavy snow and rain have also caused havoc across the Western Balkans, closing roads, cutting power and causing rivers to flood. A woman died in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Monday after a tree overburdened with wet snow fell on her.