We had a huge amount of snow in Budapest on Thursday, but it was nothing compared to what they got in the northwest of the country. This picture is of an Austrian snowplow that traveled 100 kilometers inside Hungary to help out.

These images were taken by Dietmar, as he drove from Vienna to Budapest, normally a two hour drive, but which took six hours earlier today, two days after the snowstorm.

He said there were lines of trucks with no snow tires that got stuck and blocked the entire road. Cars couldn't get through, and people were stranded overnight in their vehicles. There were two busloads of American students whose bus was stuck in the snow all night. Emergency vehicles couldn't get through the mess, and the military came to help out. Nobody here can remember any snowstorm of this magnitude hitting Hungary before. It appeared to be a result of sudden heavy snow and very high winds which caused the huge snowdrifts that blocked and buried everything.

More photos from the day of the storm are at http://galeria.index.hu/belfold/2013/03/15/az_utakon_rekedt_olvasonk_fotoi/ and http://kepek.origo.hu/galleriesdisplay/gdisplay?xml=/1303/Sz_za2013315105527/gallery.xml&rovat=itthon#/1 -- they are simply unbelievable.