The region, which saw temperatures drop to as low as minus 33 C (minus 27.4 F) in the most northern parts, is accustomed to cold wintry weather and is well-equipped to cope with the conditions.

Nonetheless, Scandinavian airline SAS cancelled 70 flights in and out of Copenhagen's international airport which had only one of its two runways in operation because of heavy snowfalls.

More than 100 trains from the national railway company DSB were cancelled and delays of an hour or more were reported on all routes.

School closures were reported across the country, as were numerous road accidents.

In Norway, more than 26,000 people were temporarily without power after heavy snow brought down electricity cables, and the national electricity grid Statnett warned that more power outages were likely.

Strong winds ripped roofs off buildings, and some schools remained closed or were evacuated due to electricity shortages or the risk of damage caused by the wind.

Several roads, autoroutes and ferry routes were out of service in northern Norway. A number of delays and cancellations were also reported at airports.

In some areas civilian defense units were called in to help and in one small island town a coast guard vessel delivered food and medical supplies.

In addition, 1,100 employees working on development of the Snoehvit gas field in the Barents Sea were evacuated late Thursday because of the extreme weather and the Statoil group said they would not return to work until Monday at the earliest.

In Finland, temperatures were between minus 20 and minus 33 degrees C (between minus 4 and minus 27.4 degrees F) on Friday and were forecast to dive to as low as minus 40 degrees C and F in coming days.

Fingrid, in charge of the national electricity system, warned of a possible power shortage after Russia said freezing cold at home would force it to cut power deliveries to Finland by 25 percent.

The warning came after Russian company UES said it would restrict power exports between 8:30 am and 9:00 pm (0630-1900 GMT). By late morning, power imports from Russia had dropped to 1,030 megawatts from the normal 1,300 megawatts, Fingrid said.

In Sweden, no disruptions were reported in air traffic at Stockholm's international airport and only minor disruptions were seen in rail traffic.

However, in southern Sweden where the storm hit hardest, more than 60 traffic accidents were reported in the morning due to icy road conditions though there were no serious injuries, police told Swedish news agency TT.

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