Winter is finally setting in across Europe, making it the perfect time to dig out the winter woollies for the Christmas markets.

December has kicked off with heavy snowfall, though it has caused severe problems across large parts of Germany, most notably Thruringia in central Germany, over the weekend.

Here, up to 15cm of snow fell in the space of just a few hours, with this evident in the video footage above.

Snow and wintry conditions also affected other parts of Germany, with several images sent in from various users across the country. Scroll through the gallery below to see for yourself!

Liguria in northwest Italy also experienced a snow storm over the weekend, with 40-50cm of snow reported at 900m above sea level.

Temperatures are set to fall even further through the week across much of Europe, including the UK and Ireland, with concerns over keeping warm in the cold. You can check out our hot tips here.