The unusually low temperatures, which are predicted to last several days, have left well over 100 fatalities in Germany, Poland, Russia, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
"You'd have to go back at least 10 years, sometimes 20 years, to find such sharp colds," said Patrick Galois, a meteorologist with Meteo-France.
Polish authorities said 27 people had died of exposure there since Friday, where overnight temperatures dipped to minus 32 Celsius, bringing to 150 the number that have died this winter.
Nearly half of the dead were homeless, of whom 90 percent were drunk.
In Ukraine, 24 people died in the past 24 hours as a result of the extreme weather conditions, the health ministry said, bringing to at least 45 the toll since temperatures plunged last week.
Officials in Russia put the toll from the weekend at 12, including seven in Moscow, in Romania authorities said 11 had died there over three days, and in the Czech Republic five people died over the same period.
In Germany, four froze to death after the mercury dropped in some areas to minus 24 degrees Celsius. The blast of icy weather caused a rush on gas supplies.
Gas row
Russia's Gazprom giant accused Ukraine of withholding gas deliveries meant for customers in Europe, resulting in a drop in delivery volumes.
Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov of Ukraine denied the charge but an official at the state-owned Naftogaz told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity that it had been withholding some Russian gas exports destined for Europe.
Mr Yekhanurov said Ukraine had used a record 407 million cubic metres of gas during the past day because of plunging temperatures, but insisted Kiev was fulfilling all of its contractual obligations on transporting Russian exports to Europe.
"Ukraine is carrying out all obligations on the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory," he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
However a Naftogaz official said later that the company had been withholding some exports for Europe because of the severe cold snap.
"We have in fact allowed the withholding of gas in excess of the contract during the past day," said an official who declined to say how much gas Ukraine was using over and above its agreed contract with Russia.
"But we are certain that according to monthly totals, Ukraine will withold exactly the volume agreed with Gazprom," the official said.
Last week Gazprom admitted it could not satisfy western Europe's gas needs because the extreme cold had caused Russian domestic demand to soar. European customers have reported lower supplies.
In Poland, the government said Russian gas deliveries were 34 percent below their contracted level Monday and Polish energy group PGNiG said it would reduce supplies to heavy industry, to make up for increased demand from households and public institutions.
"Because of the extreme weather conditions, in some regions of the country consumption of gas has risen by about 48 percent compared with the amount used in previous years," PGNiG said.
Bosnia, entirely dependent on Russia for natural gas, reported supplies 25 percent down since last Wednesday, while a smaller decrease in deliveries was registered in Italy.
The freezing weather has seen the thermometer plunge to minus 33 C in Moscow, a 20-year low, minus 26 C in Warsaw and minus 20 in Berlin.
Frozen pipes
One of those who died in Germany was a 74-year-old woman who had fallen on her doorstep in Wolfen, in the east of the country, after popping out to check her mail. She had not been able to lift herself up.
In Russia, the toll included a soldier who died of hypothermia as he and a group of colleagues sheltered in an army truck while on exercise. Authorities launched an inquiry.
The overall toll in Russia reached at least 84, although temperatures have begun to ease off in Moscow and schools which had earlier been closed have now re-opened.
In the Czech Republic, part of the Temelin nuclear power plant was cut off from the grid for five hours after the cold affected a sensor.
In Poland's eastern region of Lugansk, some 60,000 people were left without heating after a central heating plant in the city of Altshevsk broke down.
Frozen pipes also left hundreds of people in Romania without heat. At least 41 people have frozen to death in the Baltic states where the cold froze heating, water and sewage pipes. About 20 died in Latvia, 14 in Lithuania and at least seven in Estonia.
In Turkey, snow fell in Istanbul and at least nine people died and 12 were injured, four seriously, when a bus skidded on ice and veered off the road.
Galois, of Meteo-France, said the Arctic conditions should not hit western Europe because of its proximity to the milder Atlantic climate.