Record snowfall has hit Moscow, downing thousands of trees and covering the Russian capital in almost half a metre of snow in less than 24 hours. Russia's Meteorological Office said on Monday (February 5) that more than a month's average of snow fell over the weekend.

The annual Yukigassen snow battle competition has begun in the northern Russian city of Murmansk.

Icy roads in the US state of Missouri caused a mulitple vehicle pile-up and shut down the highway.

The wintery weather is expected to continue in Moscow through the next several days with temperatures dropping down to -8 degrees celsius.

Saudi Arabia's northwestern Tabuk region was blanketed in a white sheet of snow and locals wasted no time in sharing photos and videos before it melted away again.

Heavy flooding and avalanches continues to cause havoc across Europe.

The extreme weather blocked some routes into the city, while several pre-summit meeting had to be cancelled or delayed.

Avalanche warnings across the Alps in Switzerland, Italy and Austria.

Villages are cut off and isolated as the railway and the roads were closed due to the danger of avalanches. This includes the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt for the second time in two weeks

High humidity and low temperature enveloped the trees and grasses with ice and frost around the lake, forming natural-looking ice sculptures of various shapes.

Around 430 passengers in Niigata Prefecture were forced to spend the night on a packed four-car train after it got stranded by heavy snow along the Sea of Japan coast.

Improving weather likely to end ordeal for tourists trapped for up to two days by heavy snow and avalanche alerts.

Helicopters fly stranded tourists out of the Swiss resort.

Hundreds of roads across the Alps in France, Italy and Switzerland were closed, cutting off resorts and villages, after the kind of snowfall that only comes once every 30 years.

The Swiss resort has been fully closed to traffic in and out since Monday evening after authorities raised the avalanche risk to the maximum level of five.

Not even the Sahara can escape January's cold snap

From snow in Spain, to rising French and German rivers: Europe struggles under winter weather, but in Hungary temperatures hit unusual highs.

Heavy snow and rainfall have prompted several countries to issue alerts and order evacuations amid threats of floodings, landslides and avalanches

A large swathe of the northern US from Montana to Maine is expected to see temperatures below -12 degrees Celsius - and that's putting lives at risk.