Arctic temperatures have paralysed swathes of Britain, with 47cm of snow reported in some parts.
Commuters on the roads and railways are suffering one of the worst days of disruption this winter as crucial transport networks are badly affected by the weather.
While tens of thousands of children are enjoying the extension to their Christmas holidays, safety fears are growing over dwindling grit supplies. Forecasters warn the current cold snap will go on for another week.
The casualty toll rose again after an elderly man died when his car went out of control on an icy road in Titchfield in Hampshire.
In Berkshire, a six-year-old boy remains in a critical condition after falling through ice into a pond.
After hitting Scotland and the north of England, the heavy snowfall moved south paralysing roads, trains and airports.
The lowest temperature overnight in the UK was -13C.
The runway at one of the biggest airports - Gatwick in West Sussex - remained closed this morning with more than 80 flights cancelled.
Bristol and Exeter are among other airports shut today, but the UK's busiest airport - Heathrow in west London - is open, although there are some delays and cancellations.
Budget airline EasyJet has cut more than 70 flights and British Airways is warning of further flight disruption.
Elsewhere in Europe, temperatures plunged to -19C in parts of Germany.
Areas of Brittany and Normandy in northwestern France have been given overnight snowfall warnings, with the snow likely to cause traffic problems and hinder businesses in the area.
In Switzerland, slight delays are reported at Geneva airport, while Zurich airport saw delays on flights coming from Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam.
In Asia, temperatures in Beijing fell to -16.7C - the lowest in the capital since 1971 - as rare snows fell in central and eastern China.
The icy weather has strained the nation's power grid, with the eastern city of Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong and Hubei cutting power to some areas as they rationed electricity, the China Business News reported.
Rolling blackouts could also occur in other regions, it said, amid forecasts of continued cold weather in central and eastern regions where such temperatures are extremely rare.
Hundreds of thousands of children were kept home from school in the Hubei provincial capital Wuhan, where more than 10cm of snow fell.
