Too much #snow on the northern side of the #Alps recently, but check out this NASA satellite image from yesterday. Little to no snow has fallen on the Italian side of the Alps. The sheer scale of the Alps have blocked the snow-bearing clouds making it over. #foehneffect Matt pic.twitter.com/GQGkFYWA5q<doc-sep>Southern Germany and Austria can expect further heavy snowfall over the next few days, forecasters have warned, after unusually severe weather left five people dead in the Alps region. Up to 80 centimeters (31 inches) of fresh snow is expected above 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) until Tuesday, along with more than half a meter at lower altitudes. On Sunday morning, two French ski patrollers were killed while handling explosive devices used to trigger controlled avalanches close to the Grand Massif ski resort. Read more: Austrian army rescues German students stranded at ski resort The Haute-Savoie region's high mountain gendarmerie said the rare accident happened before the slopes around the town of Morillon were opened to the public. They explained how the patrollers, aged 44 and 53, sustained fatal injuries while attempting to stop potential dangers to skiers. Avalanche risk raised Forecasters had raised the risk of avalanches in the Savoie and Haute-Savoie region to "strong" (level 4 on a scale of 5) on Sunday because of fresh snowfall on the massifs overnight. Rescue teams in Austria, meanwhile, continued to search for a 28-year-old German skier missing after an avalanche around the exclusive mountain resort of Lech in the state of Vorarlberg. Three other German skiers, aged 32, 36, and 56, died after being buried by the snowslip on Saturday. Police said the four friends had apparently skied onto a trail that had been closed. The victims had suffered multiple injuries and showed signs of suffocation, despite deploying rescue airbags. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria 'Snow chaos' For days, the German state of Bavaria has been inundated by massive amounts of snow. Munich police urged drivers to deal with the snow covering their vehicles or face potential fines after tweeting a picture of a car (not this one!) shrouded in ice at a stoplight. German media has dubbed the extreme weather phenomenon "Schneechaos" — or snow chaos. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Helping out In Berchtesgaden, a town in the Bavarian Alps near the Austrian border, Germany's armed forces — the Bundeswehr — had to deliver much-needed supplies in the middle of the night. The reason: the road to the village was cut off by the sheer amount of snow fall. As such, the military had the only transport vehicles able to reach the area. Local tram services were also in no state to run. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Snow pyramid A festive pyramid diorama was covered in snow in Schönheide, a town near the Czech border in eastern Germany. Snow plows have been pressed to find places to pile the snow from the street after a blizzard powdered the Ore Mountains. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Roof brigade Firefighters dislodged piles of snow from a roof in the western Austrian town of Mariazell. Since January 5, around 3,700 firefighters have been called upon in the Austrian state of Styria to help deal with the flurry. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Stuck For some, the snow kept them from reaching home. Hundreds of drivers had to sleep in their vehicles overnight after being trapped on the highway between Munich and Salzburg. In an editorial, the conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) said climate change may be a contributing factor to the "chaotic amounts of snow" and shows how quickly areas can be changed by its effects. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Air support A "Super Puma" helicopter was prepared for takeoff in a parking lot in Schönau am Königsee, a town in southeast Bavaria. The helicopters were used to blow snow from trees and onto roads to prevent trees and their branches from falling onto cars passing by. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Emergency work A fireman cleared off snow from a roof in the Berchtesgaden region of Bavaria near the Austrian border. More than 1,000 emergency workers were dispatched to Upper Bavaria to deal with the snow. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria More warnings But Bavaria wasn't the only place in Germany to be affected by the snowfall. North of Bavaria in the German state of Thuringia, park authorities warned people against entering forests, saying enormous snow loads threatened to bring down numerous trees. Several roads were also closed by deep snow and fallen trees. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Snow day While not nearly as chaotic as Bavaria and Thuringia, the German state of Baden-Württemberg received plenty of snow too. In Stuttgart, buildings were covered by the white powder frost, while in some parts of the state, school children were allowed to take the day off. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Freezing neighbors For days now, Austrian authorities have issued avalanche warnings for its Alpine slopes. At least eight people have been killed by weather-related incidents. In some cases, rescuers have had to save people stranded in cut-off areas. On Thursday, nine tourists from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Hungary had to be rescued after venturing off-piste in the Zell am See resort area. Heavy snow creates chaos in southern Germany and Austria Elsewhere in Europe While Germany and Austria have received a lot of extreme weather coverage, that doesn't mean other parts of Europe weren't inundated by snowfall. As far south as Greece, refugee children took it as an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors with a snowball or two. Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy and Turkey also received their share. Bavaria set for more snow Southern parts of the German state of Bavaria are expected to see heavy snowfalls over the next two days. Since Friday, there have been numerous reports of accidents and road closures. German soldiers were called out to help with snow clearing operations, and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said they would stay "as long as needed." The winter sports resort of Balderschwang, close to Germany's border with Austria, has been cut off since Sunday morning as the pass leading to it was closed due to an avalanche. About 1,300 residents and visitors were left stranded, but officials said power was still working and enough supplies were on hand. The nearby ski area of Grasgehren was cleared, however, with 40 people evacuated. Trains on part of the route between the German cities of Munich and Lindau, on Lake Constance near the Austrian border, were traveling more slowly than usual because of a risk that trees weighed down by snow could fall onto the tracks. In central Switzerland, trains carrying cars through the Furka tunnel were suspended because of an avalanche on a nearby road. mm/jm (AFP, AP, DPA) Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.<doc-sep>Search and rescue workers dig out a bus caught by an avalanche in Hundwil, Switzerland. (CNN) — At least 16 people have died in avalanche-related accidents in Europe since the start of the year, as severe winter weather grips parts of the continent. Three German skiers were killed and another is still missing, after they were buried in an avalanche near the Austrian ski resort of Lech am Arlberg over the weekend, a press officer for the western province of Vorarlberg told CNN. Meanwhile, in the French Alps, two ski patrollers were killed Sunday after devices they were using to trigger avalanches exploded, the Haute-Savoie region’s high mountain gendarmerie said. The severe weather has been fueled by a persistent area of low pressure, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Kerstin Joensson/AP A snow blower attempts to clear a path in Lofer, Austria. That has been felt in heavy snow along the northern Alps, and as far south as the mountainous areas of northern and central Spain, as well as in Greece, where thermometers registered an all-time low of -23 degrees Celsius (-9 Fahrenheit) last week. The northern-facing slopes of the Alps in Germany and Austria, which have been battered by repeated rounds of storms, have seen upward of 10 feet in some spots. A top-level red alert for extreme winter conditions was in effect on Monday for parts of southern Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Austria, where snow has made some motorways impassable, halted trains and paralyzed public life. Top level #RedAlert for extreme winter conditions for Austria, parts of southern Germany and Switzerland. Heed travel and avalanche warnings. Photo via @severeweatherEU of Gesäuse National Park, Austria 13 Jan from helicopter inspection team. All alerts at https://t.co/nXQmEViEuR pic.twitter.com/E632M8gzD4 — World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) January 14, 2019 An estimated 13,000 people were stranded in the Swiss Alpine resort of Zermatt last week after heavy snow and power cuts shuttered ski lifts and mountain paths, Reuters reported. “There are locations, mainly in Austria and southern Bavaria, where we haven’t seen this level of snowfall ever before, or at least not to that extreme,” Florian Pappenberger, the director of forecasts at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said. “It is unusual, you don’t get very often people chipping the tops of their houses free of snow.” In the first week of the month alone, many parts of Austria have already seen their entire January snow average reached, according to the Austrian meteorological service. And no signs of a let-up in the snowfall are expected until Tuesday. CHRISTIAN BRUNA/EPA-EFE Two men try to remove snow from a roof of a house in Filzmoos, Austria. In Austria, a rescue mission for the fourth skier was suspended because of continuous heavy snow and avalanche warnings in the area, Vorarlberg press officer Florian Themessl-Huber said, adding that rescuers may not be able to resume their work until Tuesday or even Wednesday. The Austrian federal police and army are on the scene to help with the search and moving snow. While Austria is no stranger to heavy snowfall at this time of year, the rapid accumulation in recent days has raised fears of further avalanches. According to the WMO, the cold wave in eastern Europe will continue for at least another week, with deep snow persisting. GIAN EHRENZELLER/KEYSTONE/EPA-EFE Emergency service workers clear snow from the inside a hotel on the Schwaegalp, Switzerland, after an avalanche. Above-normal precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean region and parts of the Middle East is also expected for the next couple of weeks, WMO said. Last week, Syrian refugees living in Lebanese camps bore the brunt of the unusual winter weather, coping with devastating floods and near-freezing temperatures. “Wherever you went there was wind and cold and wetness,” Fatima Saleem al-Khalife, a 30-year-old living in a camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, told CNN. CNN’s Stephanie Halasz and Tamara Qiblawi contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
BERLIN — Three German skiers have been killed in an avalanche in Austria and a fourth is still missing, police said Sunday as snowfall set in again in the northern Alps. In France, two ski patrollers were killed when the devices they use to trigger avalanches exploded. The two accidents brought to at least 26 the number of weather-related deaths reported in parts of Europe this month. In Austria, the wife of one of the German skiers reported them missing on Saturday. The bodies of the men, aged 57, 36 and 32, were recovered later Saturday evening near the ski resort of Lech. Police in Vorarlberg, Austria's westernmost province, said they had to call off the search for another missing German skier in the group, age 28, because of heavy snow and the risk of avalanches. Police said the four friends had apparently skied onto a trail that was closed. Although they had avalanche protection equipment and deployed airbags, the victims were buried by the avalanche and suffered multiple injuries. They were located with the help of cellphone tracking. In France, the Haute-Savoie region's high mountain gendarmerie said the two ski patrollers were killed Sunday morning in Morillon before ski slopes were opened to the public. Officers were investigating the scene to determine the cause of the rare accident. Ski patrollers are in charge of preventing potential dangers to skiers, notably by triggering controlled avalanches with powerful explosive charges. Authorities in southern Germany and Austria had used a break in the weather to clear heavy loads of snow from roofs and roads, but snow set in again on Saturday night. In the Bavarian town of Kempten, local authorities closed 11 sports halls as a precaution through Tuesday fearing that the weight of snow on their roofs was posing increasing dangers, the German news agency dpa reported. Trains between the German cities of Munich and Lindau were traveling more slowly than usual because of a risk of snow-laden trees falling onto the tracks. The small Alpine resort of Balderschwang on Germany's border with Austria was cut off Sunday after the pass leading to it was closed for fear of avalanches. In central Switzerland, trains carrying cars through the Furka tunnel were suspended because of an avalanche on a nearby road.