An enormous cyclone has wreaked havoc across Europe from Scandinavia to the Balkans, bringing snow gales and claiming lives. In Russia, weather surprises during the weekend started with beating two climate records, for warmth and low atmosphere pressure,

This weekend marks a rapid halt to the abnormally warm weather which lasted in western Russia for most of November.

Moscow and St Petersburg suffered the worst because of the gale, where heavy snowfall along with strong winds have killed one person and injured several others.

A man died in St Petersburg while sitting in his car when it was hit by six trees felled by the wind.  

A storm warning has been declared in Moscow on Sunday.

Strong winds in Ukraine broke electricity lines and de-energised more than 300 settlements.

In Germany, France, Poland and Romania snow gales brought chaos to the roads this weekend. Snow, ice and poor visibility caused a series of accidents across the areas and paralysed motorways.

In Italy high winds killed two people.

And just a week before the start of summer in Australia, an unexpected cold front meant outdoor sports turned to snowballing instead of surfing.