Emergency services reported the trucks were blocked at the border crossing point at Biriatou, with the route into Spain closed off because of snow.

Red Cross and emergency services supplied stranded drivers with food and hot drinks as they waited in a 10-kilometre (six-mile) line.

Local government officials set up a crisis unit and were organising emergency accommodation for the night with the expectation that the holdup would last over the weekend.

Strong winds, hail and heavy snow swept parts of Spain, with snow paralysing road and rail traffic in parts of the north including Cantabria in the Basque Country, Navarra and Castille-Leon.

Two motorways were blocked between Burgos and Vitoria, and emergency services had to rescue between 2,000 and 3,000 stranded travellers, who were given makeshift overnight accommodation.

The Spanish national meteorological institute forecast that snow would persist throughout the weekend, and traffic authorities advised motorists to think twice about using the roads.

Rescue services were put on standby alert in 10 of Spain's 17 autonomous regions and 29 mountain passes had been closed to traffic by Friday night because of snow, high winds and hail.

Earlier, Portuguese trucks headed to France were prevented from crossing into Spain where a severe snowstorm had blocked roads, the Lusa news agency reported.

It quoted a police spokesman as saying that a major border crossing at Vilar Formoso, about 360 kilometres (220 miles) northeast of Lisbon, would remain closed to trucks until Monday because heavy snow had blocked roads in northern Spain near the French border.

In France, there was road chaos in the Rhone-Alpes region in the southeast partly due to the end of half-term holidays when many families were returning home by car.

At one point there were nearly 150 kilometres (90 miles) of traffic jams, especially on routes connecting with ski resorts.

Meanwhile, snow uncharacteristically fell on the otherwise mild Riviera resort of Nice and the mountain road leading to the Italian border and flakes were seen on the beach at nearby Antibes.

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TERRA.WIRE