Hopenhagen, Snopahagen...

Europe's suffering from global warming...

Europe shivered under a snowy pre-Christmas cold snap that closed airports, caused chaos on the roads and gave some school kids an early start to their holidays.

The Swiss canton of Grisons recorded a record low temperature of minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, and early snow was seen across the continent from the white cliffs of Dover to the Black Sea.

Two of London's airports were closed overnight after heavy snow fell across south and east England, with a score of incoming flights being diverted to other British destinations.

Gatwick and Luton airports were later able to reopen after workers cleared snow from their runways, but forecasters warned of a repeat of the bad weather over the weekend.

The Channel Tunnel link between Britain and mainland Europe was suspended Saturday due to three broken-down trains blocking both lines, with passengers being evacuated, operators Eurotunnel told AFP.

"Currently the tunnels are closed," a spokesman said, calling the situation "unprecedented".

The breakdowns were being blamed on the cold weather snap affecting the region.

A total of around 1,200 to 1,300 passengers from two of the trains in one tunnel were to be evacuated on an empty vehicle shuttle being sent to collect them from the other tunnel, the spokesman said.

The third train, in the other tunnel, was scheduled to be pushed out later.

"At the moment we're not giving timescales. We hope to get this done as quickly as possible," the spokesman said.

More than 1,500 British schools closed early on the last day of term, giving some 500,000 pupils an early start to their Christmas holidays, as between five and 15 centimetres of snow fell in some areas.

Meanwhile, some 3,000 homes in northwest England were left without power.