Essen (dpa/lnw) – The week in North Rhine-Westphalia began on Monday with icy temperatures: The German Weather Service reported frost at minus one to minus five, in the mountains down to minus eight degrees. Locally it was slippery due to freezing wet or light snowfall. The WDR reported 119 kilometers of traffic jams nationwide until 7:59 a.m. during rush hour. Motorists had to wait a particularly long time in a ten-kilometer traffic jam on the A2 near Dortmund in the direction of Oberhausen.

During the day, the DWD expected light permafrost in some areas in the east of the country and in the higher mountains. On Tuesday night it should be cold again with temperatures between minus five and minus nine degrees.