Glass roads, snow even in the lowlands: the big onset of winter brings traffic problems in many places. There are already warnings of black ice and further frost.
The onset of winter turns parts of Germany white at night – and at the same time brings slippery roads and sometimes dangerous icy conditions. The German Weather Service (DWD) also warned of further snowfall, freezing rain and ongoing traffic disruption on Monday, especially in the south and southeast.
An official storm warning regarding extreme black ice was in effect for the Stuttgart and Tübingen regions in the early hours of the morning. There were also slippery roads, individual accidents and disabilities in Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Hamburg. Police spokespeople in Bavaria and Lower Saxony spoke about the first real night of snow this winter.
The start of winter causes road problems in several areas, including slippery highways. In Schleswig-Holstein, black ice caused chaos on the A7, and on the A9, trucks skidded off the road in Central Franconia and near Schnaittach, triggering occasional short-term closures.
In Baden-Württemberg, several ice accidents on the A7 resulted in sheet metal damage. At Cologne/Bonn Airport, flight operations had to be temporarily suspended for 45 minutes due to ice lightning. In Würzburg, local transport stopped all bus operations at night; the tram continues to run.
Different in Upper Saxony: At least three people died and several others were injured in a crash on the slippery Autobahn 93 near Maxhütte-Haidhof. Based on police findings so far, two trucks and one car were involved in the early morning accident.
In the evening it snowed for the first time in Hamburg this winter. The city was covered in a thick layer of snow. The snowfall barely affected traffic until early morning. Police in the Hanseatic city did not report any disturbances or major accidents on the roads. There are no train traffic delays either.
On Monday, the weather across Germany is expected to remain unstable, wet and cold. Some snow fell in the east and northeast, and heavily in eastern Bavaria, as announced by the German Weather Service. In southeastern Bavaria, there remains a risk of black ice due to freezing rain, with storm-like rainfall in some places.
Throughout Germany the weather is very cloudy to overcast. More prolonged rainfall continued over a wide area from Switzerland to the Bavarian Forest, with freezing rain continuing in the southeast. Individual showers will occur from west to central, with brief breaks possible in the east. Hail is also expected in the north. The maximum value ranges between one degree on the Oder and up to eight degrees in the Aachen region. The wind is blowing weak to moderate from the south.
The weather is expected to remain cold Tuesday night. In the south and southeast, rainfall continues, and snow falls further into the lowlands. In the Bavarian Forest and near the Alps, up to ten centimeters of fresh snow is possible locally on Tuesday morning.
In many areas in the southeast and mountains, light frosts between zero and minus three degrees are expected, or even lower in some places. Therefore, there is a new risk of slippery conditions caused by freezing moisture. The northwest remains slightly cooler at four to zero degrees and only isolated showers.
dpa/from
