Weather in Bavaria: The frost and its consequences – Bavaria

Many suspected it, meteorologist Jürgen Schmidt confirms it: December is cold. Too cold even. At least compared to previous years. In Munich, for example, the temperatures have so far been 1.2 degrees too low. “So we have similarly cold temperatures as last time in 2010. That was the last time there was a white Christmas in Germany,” says Schmidt from the weather service “Wetterkontor”. But if you now think that there is a chance of snow on Christmas Eve, you will unfortunately be disappointed.

According to Schmidt, a longer warm phase will begin next week at the latest. At the latest because the warmer weather is already finding its way into higher layers – and as a result, it poses a high risk for car and train drivers in southern Bavaria from Wednesday morning. Because the snow turns to rain in these higher layers and hits frozen ground in the morning. This significantly increases the risk of freezing rain and mirror-smooth roads. Unfortunately, accidents and train delays cannot be ruled out. The German Weather Service also warns in Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria and Swabia that branches in forests could break off and fall off due to too much ice.

You should also be careful at lakes and streams – and not step on them despite a thin layer of ice. That advises the water rescue service of the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK). For safety reasons, ice skating or curling should only be done on officially approved waters. “The ice is still wafer-thin,” warned the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) Bavaria. Ice on bodies of water may not be entered as long as it is not 15 centimeters thick.

In general, the advice is to use artificial ice surfaces. “Anyone who still wants to do winter sports on the ice should always only go to guarded waters and never go on the ice alone, and pay attention to the warnings of the local authorities, the local media and the information and prohibition signs on site,” said Thomas Huber, head of the BRK water rescue service in Munich.

But the cold weather does not only have negative sides. At temperatures around minus eleven degrees Celsius, frozen grapes for noble sweet ice wine were harvested in Franconia on Tuesday morning. Wine grower Christian Reiss from Würzburg is hoping for 80 liters of the wine specialty, which will be available in small 0.375 liter bottles from April or May. “There will be about 220 bottles, that’s great, that’s awesome,” he said shortly after the manual work with six helpers in his vineyard.

Ice wine from Franconia enjoys a worldwide reputation

For ice wine, the fully ripe grapes have to be frozen in the press. The sweet juice then drips from the wine press. According to the winemaker, the Silvaner grapes had a high value of 205 degrees Oechsle. Degree Oechsle is a unit of measure for the weight of unfermented grape must. The must weight indicates the proportion of dissolved substances (especially sugar) in the grape juice, an indication of the possible alcohol content of the later wine. “The legal minimum value for ice wine is 125 degrees Oechsle,” explained Reiss.

According to the Franconian Winegrowers Association, only a few winegrowers left grapes for ice wine this year. Ice wines are considered the culmination of a vintage. They are mainly drunk as an aperitif or with desserts and cheese and enjoy a worldwide reputation. A bottle costs 20 to 70 euros, sometimes more. According to records, ice wines have been produced in Franconia since 1794.

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