LONDON — Winter snow is typically welcomed in the Alps, an area well-equipped to cope with the several inches of the white stuff.

But recent thaws followed by heavy rainfall have upended travel and led to evacuations in much of the region, as thick packs of snow dislodge and trigger avalanches.

It has been a winter of extreme weather on Europe’s highest peaks, with avalanches, flooding and biting cold threatening homes and causing trouble on roads and railways.