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© Phil Noble/ReutersA motorist drives through heavy snow in Manchester, northern England, December 1, 2010. The snow and freezing temperatures continued to cause major problems for road, rail and air services on Wednesday
Unseasonably cold weather and heavy snow in parts of northern Europe have killed at least 40 people in several countries this week and caused major travel disruptions.

The frigid weather is expected to linger through the first half of next week, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said.

"A 'blocking pattern' high-pressure system has set up over Greenland and Iceland, basically leading to an atmospheric traffic jam," Wagstaffe said. "This high is steering Atlantic warmth away from Europe and instead directing Arctic cold down from the North."

In Poland, officials said at least 12 people - many of them homeless - died overnight, bringing the death toll in Poland alone to 30 over the past three days. People have also died from the cold in Russia, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, local media reported.

On Friday, authorities in northern England said they found the bodies of two elderly residents who are believed to have frozen to death.

The cold weather and early snowfall has disrupted air and rail service and led to the closure of thousands of schools in the United Kingdom, CBC's London bureau chief Ann MacMillan said.

"What looks like a bit of snow to us creates huge problems here, because there just aren't things like snowplows in abundance," MacMillan said.

In London, Heathrow airport was open, but the website advised travellers that some airlines were either delaying or cancelling flights.

Britain's Gatwick airport, reopened after its 48-hour closure because of heavy snowfall, but flight delays continued, airport officials said.

Flooding in other parts of world

Authorities, meanwhile, declared a state of emergency in three Balkan countries - Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro - and evacuated hundreds of people after heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Drina River, the worst in 104 years. But floodwaters receded significantly overnight in Bosnia, leaving a trail of mud and debris in many areas.

Bosnian authorities used rafts to rescue people Thursday from apartments in Foca, and on the other side of the Drina, hundreds of people were evacuated in Serbia and Montenegro because of flooded farms and roads.

Schools were closed, many people had no electricity or heat and water supplies were contaminated along the river in all three countries.

Thousands of people and livestock were also evacuated from northwestern Albania after severe floods. A state of emergency was declared in Shkodra, and the city remains isolated from the rest of the country by days of heavy rain.

With files from the Associated Press