A German city had to deploy its fleet of snowploughs on Saturday after a freak storm blanketed the streets with up to a foot of hail.
Barely weeks since Europeans were hiding in shaded doorways or dousing themselves with water to keep cool amid record-breaking hot temperatures, new extreme weather has arrived on the Continent.
Authorities in the south western city of Reutlingen said a “localised storm with hail and heavy rain” swept over the city centre on Friday afternoon.
Images showed people using shovels to clear the roads, creating huge mounds of ice on the pavement.
Read more: Freak summer storm (see David’s videocast) leaves streets covered in foot of hail
