Further disruption is expected on roads and railways across the Netherlands on Monday evening as a fresh wave of snow showers arrives from the north-west.

Highways agency Rijkswaterstaat and train operator NS both advised commuters to set off as early as possible to avoid being hit by jams and cancellations.

Forecasters warned temperatures could plunge to minus 10C in some places on Tuesday night and more heavy snow is expected on Wednesday, after a day’s reprieve.

“We may even see more snow than this morning,” Marc de Jong of Buienradar told RTL. “The wintry conditions are going to trouble us for a while.”

Schiphol airport cancelled all flights to and from Amsterdam until 2pm because of snowbound runways, with many inbound planes diverted to Düsseldorf.

Some passengers were being hit by a second day of delays after more than 100 flights were cancelled on Sunday because of cold weather and snow, which meant planes had to be kept on the ground longer for de-icing.

Such a mess at @schiphol. #KLM has no plan in place for this chaos. Day two of trying to get home. @KLM All passengers are told is to get in line. pic.twitter.com/v3Ir1sqDWL

— Chris Saldaña (@ChrisSaldana) January 5, 2026

Train delays

Train services were cancelled or reduced because of frozen points, with all trains in the Amsterdam region, including Schiphol airport shuttles, suspended until 2pm. Zwolle, Leeuwarden and Utrecht were also hit by mass cancellations.

NS warned that more delays were likely in the evening and urged commuters to travel home earlier if possible. “The weather forecast shows that new heavy snow showers will fall in various places in the Netherlands from 5pm, which will cause much more disruption,” the train company said on its website.

Rijkswaterstaat gritted the roads with 9,500 tonnes of salt by 2pm on Monday, but said its vehicles were struggling to get through the long tailbacks. The agency logged 688km of queues at the peak of the morning rush, the third busiest day on record.

“We’re doing everything we can to clear the roads, but it’s dependent on what traffic queues are already there,” said a spokesman.

The A32 motorway in Friesland was closed both ways for several hours between Akkrum and Grou after traffic was brought to a standstill, before being gradually cleared from 1pm.

Several schools in the north-west were closed on what should have been the first day back after the holidays, including the Firda mbo college group, which runs 20 institutions in Friesland and northern Flevoland.

Utrecht University also cancelled classes and advised staff to work from home.