As Britain is facing some of its first widespread flurries of snow, breathtaking images from around the world reveal gorgeous landscapes covered in ice and buried under snowdrifts.
In Eastern Europe, the Black Sea froze near the Romanian coastline and villagers in Serbia and Bosnia were airlifted from their homes after being cut off without food.
The dramatic icy weather has caused traffic chaos, power outages and even deaths all over the planet as people battle frostbite and hypothermia.
Big freeze: A child runs past a wave protection dam covered in ice as the waters of the Black Sea are frozen near the shore in Constanta, Romania
Pillars of ice: Elegant icicles cover a protective fence beside the waters of the Black Sea
Cold creatures: Amateur photographers capture the ice on a dam beside the shore, as a gull flies over the splendid landscape
BMW IN ADVERTISING BLUNDER AFTER SPONSORING EUROPEAN COLD SNAP WITH THE NAME 'COOPER'
BMW ad chiefs paid to sponsor the cold snap with the name 'Cooper', after its Mini Cooper compact auto, similar to this model
BMW marketing bosses have been accused of an 'advertising move too far' after buying sponsorship rights of the cold front which has ripped through Europe.
The car giant's advertising agency paid for the right to name the current weather front 'Cooper', after the BMW-produced Mini Cooper compact auto.
The Sassenbach advertising agency in Munich, where BMW is based, bought the rights to name the cold snap in what is now being seen as a marketing mishap of enormous proportions.
Paul Heger from the Institute for Meteorology at the Free University (FU) in Berlin runs an 'Adopt-a-Vortex' scheme, whereby the public can go online and bid to sponsor a high or low weather system.
Sassenbach paid for the names Cooper - for the high currently wreaking havoc - and for a low called Minnie which will follow when the cold snap is over.
But with temperatures plunging to 33 degrees below, and close to 40 people dead across Europe and Russia and 500 in hospital for weather related injuries and frostbite, BMW executives are said to be fuming after the move.
One marketing executive said; 'It's all very well to plug the Mini as a car which can handle all weathers, but when people are dropping like flies and there is no end to the cold snap in sight, the feeling is this is one Mad Men move too far.'
Other worldly: A child picks her way through slippery rocks on the Black Sea coastline
Walking on water: Families in Romania wander across the frozen waves and take pictures of the incredible sight
Travel trouble: A ship ploughs its way through the slushy water, left, and a stray dog is likely to struggle in the chilly temperatures as the day wears on, right
Winter wonder: A group of friends hurry through the heavy snowfall on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue, as almost 200 flights were cancelled in the city
Snow queen: A girl in a white coat feeds swans on a frosty lake in a park outside Minsk
Incongruous: Snow-covered palm trees at lake Lungolago in Lugano, Switzerland
Out walking: A man and his dogs in Athens as snowfall and frost were reported Greece for a third day, left, while a solitary figure heads along the Neris river in the Vilnius, Lithuania
Beautiful: A duck stretches its wings over a steamy pond on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus
Christmas train: A narrow-gauge railway makes its way through a snow covered forest at the Harz national park near Schierke, central Germany
Spectacular sunrise: Ice floes float down the German-Polish border river Oder during sunrise near Frankfurt Oder, Germany
Cold snap: Snow-ploughs at work during a heavy snowfall on a major road in Modena, Italy, left, while tourist admire Perugia's San Bernardino church in the snow ( dailymail.co.uk )
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