Frosty-cold winter weather continues in Germany. In some parts of the country there is a risk of black ice and a high potential for severe weather – severe traffic disruptions cannot be ruled out.
It’s a dangerous mix of frost and moisture: On Wednesday, the roads in southern Germany are likely to be particularly slippery due to freezing rain and snow. The German Weather Service (DWD) warned of sometimes long-lasting, often freezing rain. From the Black Forest to Lower Bavaria and south of it, the meteorologists expect widespread black ice and a high potential for severe weather. Extreme storms cannot be ruled out regionally. The DWD expects severe traffic obstructions and damage to the supply infrastructure.
Already on Tuesday evening there were sometimes difficult conditions on the roads. The police and meteorologists called on the drivers to adjust their speed to the weather. The Freiburg police headquarters even warned of the enormous risk of accidents. In Hamburg-Schnelsen, a car with summer tires crashed into a bridge railing over the A7 on a slippery road, the driver was trapped in his car and slightly injured. Accidents had also increased in many regions on the previous days.
According to the DWD, snow will fall in certain areas on Wednesday from the southwest to Rhineland-Palatinate, Central Hesse, the Thuringian Forest and eastern Bavaria – one to eight centimeters are possible, in places it could even be ten centimeters. North of the low mountain range it should be sunny, on the Schleswig-Holstein North Sea coast cloudy with occasional snow showers. On Wednesday afternoon and evening, the meteorologists expect the ice situation to relax in some areas.
In the south, however, the danger of ice has not yet been averted. At the beginning of the week, ntv weather expert Björn Alexander warned of a mid-week low that could have plenty of snow in its luggage. From the High Rhine to the southern foothills of the Alps, there could still be freezing rain or rain with an increased risk of ice on Thursday night. Freezing rain is when rain or drizzle falls from a warmer layer of air into a colder layer. When the supercooled drops of water hit the frozen ground, they instantly turn into ice crystals and cover streets, buildings and cars with a thin layer of ice. The phenomenon is therefore also called freezing rain.
