[Sharon]

During the second half of January and early February 2012, bitterly cold air originating from Siberia killed hundreds of people across Europe.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, lows plummeted to as low as minus 30 degrees C in eastern European countries Latvia, Belarus, northeastern Poland and Ukraine, while lows fell to minus 10 to minus 15 degrees C in central and western Europe.

The frigid weather ground flights, halted traffic, and caused hundreds of deaths. While the subzero temperatures and heavy snowfalls brought hardship, residents of some areas were able to take advantage of the conditions for skating, sledding, kite surfing, and other winter pastimes.


A boy sits in front of an ice covered car in Versoix, near Geneva, Switzerland


The moon rises behind snow covered trees near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on February 5, 2012. Lowest temperatures in southern parts of the country were at minus 22 degrees Celsius (-7.6 F) during the night


The ancient Colosseum is seen during heavy snowfall late in the night in Rome, Italy


The ancient Roman forum, after a snowfall, on February 4, 2012. A rare mantle of snow blanketed the historic center of Rome on February 3, forcing the closure of schools and tourist sites such as the Colosseum


A young couple enjoys a cold afternoon ice skating on a frozen pond in Prague, Czech Republic. Temperatures in Prague were around -7 degrees Celsius (19 degrees F)


A ferry makes its way through ice sheets covering the water in Hamburg's port area. The deadly cold snap that has gripped Europe for more than a week strained emergency services, wrought travel chaos and claimed many lives


A cyclist rides his bicycle on a frozen river near Ragana, Latvia


A layer of snow caps the forest of openwork pinnacles and spires set upon the flying buttresses of Milan St. Ambrose's Cathedral, in Italy


A member of local polar swimmers club gets out of the Vltava river where water temperatures reached 3 degrees Celsius (37.4 degree F) and air temperatures reached minus 9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees F) in Prague


A worker drives a reed mower at a frozen water expanse at Neusiedler See (Lake Neusiedl) near Illmitz, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Vienna, Austria


People play ice hockey on a frozen Neusiedlersee (Lake Neusiedl) in Podersdorf, Austria


A view of Venice, Italy, across a partly frozen area of the lagoon


A lion cub plays with a snowball at the Belgrade Zoo, Serbia


A man walks past an ice-covered car on the frozen waterside promenade at Lake Geneva in the city Versoix


A girl walks on the ice covered pavement along the bank of Leman Lake in Versoix near Geneva


A homeless man emerges from an underground heating duct where he lives, in Warsaw, Poland


A man, who suffered frostbite, recovers in a hospital, with the air temperature at about minus 13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees F) outside, in Kiev, Russia


On a frosty evening, the sun sets over a residential district in Moscow, Russia


Kite surfers take advantage of the frozen Puck Bay in Chalupy, Hel Peninsula, Poland


A Russian man climbs out of an ice hole after swimming in a lake on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Russia


An old cannon completely covered in ice, on a windy winter day near the harbor of Versoix, Switzerland


A man walks through a park in Burgos as snow hits northern Spain


People skate on the frozen Keizersgracht canal in Amsterdam


Ducks rest on the ice in Svisloch river in a park in central Minsk


Four skaters pass a windmill as they enjoy the first time they can skate on natural ice in Zevenhuizen, near The Hague


A monument is covered with snow in Kiev


A dog takes a dip in the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany


Hikers near the frost covered Wendelstein church, Germany's highest church, on Wendelstein mountain (1,838m / 6,030ft tall) near Bayrischzell, Germany

[Bastet]

Breathtaking pics! Winter is my favorite season, I wish it would be here already

[Faline]

Cool images

[kellyhound]

beautiful pics and i wonder what next winter will bring.