The winter weather continues to cause problems in the south and center of Germany. The weather service warns of “heavy amounts” of snow. There are still restrictions at Frankfurt Airport. During the night nothing worked on some highways.
The weather situation remains tense in parts of Germany due to freezing rain and snowfall: The German Weather Service is expecting lots of snow today. From the Eifel and the Cologne area via the Rothaar Mountains to Thuringia, people have to prepare for “persistent and sometimes heavy snowfalls”.
The DWD expects “storm-like amounts of fresh snow” of up to 30 centimeters within 24 hours and warns of “significant traffic disruptions and the risk of snow breakage”.
“Snowfalls often lead to traffic disruptions, especially in the lowlands,” says the German Weather Service. The DWD also predicted snowfall for the southeast half, initially rain for the extreme southeast, later snow there too. Otherwise, according to the forecast, there will be isolated snow showers, with breaks in between. Sunny winter weather can be expected across Germany towards the weekend.
Kilometers of traffic jams on the highways
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on several highways in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate during the night due to slippery conditions and snow. In East Hesse, rescue workers provided blankets and hot drinks to the inmates in kilometer-long traffic jams, the police said.
Streets and sidewalks in the affected regions of Germany often turned into dangerous slides on Wednesday. There were numerous accidents.
The slippery conditions also pose a danger for pedestrians, as the sidewalks in particular are often slippery. According to rescue workers from several cities, passers-by repeatedly fell and injured themselves.
Further restrictions at Frankfurt Airport
Many flights at Frankfurt Airport were canceled today. This was shown by a look at the arrival and departure boards on the airport’s website. “Passengers are asked to check their flight status on the airline websites before arriving at the airport and to allow sufficient time for the journey,” the site also said. “If your flight is canceled, please do not come to the airport.”
Due to the weather conditions, school cancellations are to be expected in some districts on Thursday, as on Wednesday.
Train traffic without major problems
At Deutsche Bahn, which has often had the biggest problems in winter weather, the restrictions were comparatively limited. Train traffic started in the morning without any major disruptions. In some cases, however, there may still be restrictions due to the weather. Passengers should therefore find out about their connections in advance.
On Wednesday there were delays and cancellations in long-distance and regional transport due to the snow and ice. As on Wednesday, a number of ICE connections from Germany to Paris should also be canceled on Thursday. This emerges from the current traffic reports from the railway. Connections from Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Saarbrücken to the French capital and back are affected.
Disruptions to buses and trains in Cologne and Bonn
Due to the ongoing winter weather, the Cologne transport company buses are not running today either. A spokesman said early in the morning that the weather conditions did not yet allow safe operation. Delays should also be expected with the light rail.
Bus operations in Bonn were also temporarily suspended on Wednesday. The responsible Bonn municipal utilities announced that whether the buses would run again on Thursday should be reassessed in the morning. The railways were initially not affected.
Air mass limit about Germany
Responsible for the severe weather situation is an air mass boundary where cold polar air from the north over Germany meets warmer and humid air from the south – a weather situation that last occurred in a similar form in 1987, according to this Tim Staeger from the ARD Weather Competence Center. Since this clash of air masses can last for hours and bring with it large amounts of precipitation, there is a risk of “a thick layer of ice” forming on the roads, the weather expert said in an interview tagesschau24.