Over 6,000 motorists were left stranded on the French-Spanish border overnight earlier this week after heavy snowfall left over 3.3 feet of snow on the Pyrenees mountains.

The snowstorm blocked the main A9 motorway and nearly 40 roads on the border between the two countries on Tuesday 9 March, and caused 30-mile traffic jams at La Junquera.

The cross-border traffic disruption forced 1,750 trucks to stop on the French flank of the mountains.

Nearly 3,000 drivers were forced to sleep in their cabins at the Jonquera pass and another 3,000 people stayed overnight in municipal installations as 174 roads were closed.

The snowfall, Barcelona’s heaviest snowfall since 1962, also extended to Italy affecting the tourist areas of Pisa, Siena and Assisi and disrupting traffic in Viterbo, north of Rome.