The early winter weather played a role in at least 24 deaths in Romania and Bulgaria over the past three days. In Poland,32 people died, most of them homeless or others who passed out in the cold after drinking alcohol. An Arctic cold wave and accompanying blizzards have killed at least 62 people throughout Europe. As much as 16 inches of snow capped Mt. Vesuvius as an unusually cold air mass invaded western Europe on chilly winds from the east. Closer to the center of the frigid air mass, temperatures plunged to minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit in Moscow on Nov.17, prompting Russian meteorologists to declare the mid-November outbreak the coldest in 20 years.