Greek island snow
A child plays in the snow at the Kara Tepe camp on the island of Lesbos following heavy snowfalls on 7 January 2017. Getty Images

A snow storm affecting parts of the south and east coasts of the US was causing chaos on Sunday (8 January) as three people were killed by the fatal weather front. After travelling Eastwards over the weekend, the treacherous conditions were blamed for a traffic pile-up involving almost 24 cars, in Connecticut.

Though Alabama and Mississippi are more well-known for their hot summers, even these states could not escape the storm's icy grip as former Mississippi governor, the aptly named William Winter, slipped and fell in his driveway. Though local reports said the 93-year-old had suffered a bleed on the brain as a result of the fall, he was expected to recover.

More from IBTimes UK

Three deaths were attributed to road-traffic accidents in Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky as a result of the poor weather conditions, with roads badly affected by ice. Meanwhile, some other traffic accidents were under investigation, with the weather not ruled out as the possible cause.

In fact, Connecticut police said around 115 crashes, including the pileup of over 20 cars, had taken place in the state and urged drivers to stay off the roads. In North Carolina, more than 700 crashes were reported in the same time period between 10am-4pm local time on Saturday.

In Europe, 20 people died as a result of icy conditions, 10 of which were in Poland. Temperatures in Russia plummeted to minus 30C – the coldest Orthodox Christmas in 120 years.

But it wasn't just Europe's colder countries affected. Airports across Italy closed on Saturday, with schools set to follow suit on Monday. Greek Islands were said to be covered in snow, while Turkey was also affected.

In the UK the forecast for the next few days looks relatively mild, with temperatures in London expecting to reach as high as 12C on Wednesday, which is double London's average high temperature for January.

Russia