Municipality employees salt the snowy A25 highway, on March 12, 2013 in Godewaersvelde, northern France, during a heavy snow storm on France. Overnight Monday nearly 500 cars were blocked near Cherbourg where snowdrifts piled up 60 centimetres (almost two feet) as winds reached 100 kilometres (more than 60 miles) an hour. Twenty-six regions in northwest and northern France were put on orange alert because of heavy snowfalls, which Meteo France said were "remarkable for the season because of the expected quantity and length of time". AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUEN