Germany snowed in by extreme winter weather

Pedestrians walk along the Elbe River in Dresden. In its warning, Germany's weather service warned of an "extraordinary onset of winter," and said the snowstorm has affected northern and central parts of Germany the most.

A jogger runs close to the Reichstag building in Berlin. DWD, the German Weather Service, issued an extreme weather warning, saying emergency crews have been put on standby across the country.

Adults and children in the eastern state of Saxony enjoy a day out in the snow with winter activities such as sledding and snow boarding. The snow seen here near the town of Altenberg is noticeably tainted by Sahara sand.

Multiple football games were cancelled on Sunday due to severe weather. The Bundesliga game between Arminia Bielefeld and Werder Bremen was cancelled just hours before it was due to begin, while the second-division game between Paderborn and Heidenheim was also called off.

A regional train heads in the direction of Koblenz, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Large portions of Germany's most populous state woke up to a blanket of snowfall. Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany's train operator, canceled several routes around the country, and has offered refunds in the affected regions.

People walk along an avenue in Berlin. The storm, which has caused dense snow drifts and limited visibility, resulted in dozens of injuries and traffic accidents around Germany.

A tree branch is frozen is Siegen, in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Police closed several slippery motorways as hundreds of accidents were reported across the country. In NRW alone, authorities said a total of 222 car accidents had been registered since Saturday.

Heavy snow fall and powerful wind across Germany has delayed traffic in a number of cities, posing a challenge for drivers trying to make their way around. Winter storms brought up to 32 centimeters (12 inches) of snow, wind gusting up to 80 kilometers per hour (49 mph) and meter-high snowdrifts.

Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer advised people to avoid travelling at the start of the week. On Sunday, rail and road traffic came to a standstill in many cities. Police closed motorways said to be as slippery as glass.

A woman stands by snow-covered stairs in Berlin. Several states in Germany have been covered with more than 20 centimeters of snow. Homeless people are particularly at risk during the storms. Rescue crews brought several homeless people in North Rhine Westphalia to shelters. In Berlin, protesters called for the reopening of a camp where many homeless people live before it was cleared.

Berlin's iconic Brandenburg gate gets a cleaning during heavy snowfall. Berliners were seen on public transport over the weekend armed with sleds as they headed to hill-tops for a day of tobogganing.

A woman with an umbrella crosses the road in Hanover, Lower Saxony. The DWD issued its highest warnings for parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday. Black ice was also forecast for parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia and Saxony.