Onset of winter
Storms and slippery weather in Germany – maps show where things get particularly tricky
The weather is sometimes cold and wintry, but in some places it also rains. Snow and slippery conditions are affecting traffic in parts of the country. A live version of the map can be found in the article
© Screenshot windy.com
The weather is extreme this week: there were severe weather warnings for Wednesday, and in some regions it was extremely slippery. And heavy snow was expected in other parts of the country. Live maps provide an overview.
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Wintry weather caused chaos in some regions on Wednesday. There had been numerous severe weather warnings since Tuesday, which were also confirmed. Meteorologists had predicted storms, black ice caused by freezing rain and, in cooler areas, heavy snowfall in some regions in central Germany. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the southern half of the country is particularly affected by the storm. Warnings of severe weather or even extreme weather were issued for parts of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony and Saarland.
The portal “Wetter.de” also warned of an “intense borderline weather situation” and recently wrote that slippery roads caused one or two unwanted slides. According to the information, the low “Gertrude” is currently approaching, after Hoch Bonifaz had previously given us some calmer weather. This low is giving us a “significant danger situation due to winter storms”. Colder air will dominate in the north, but it will be warmer in the south. However, since some of the ground was still frozen, black ice formed in many places.
Impacts on rail and air traffic due to the weather, schools remain closed
Deutsche Bahn assumed that the extreme weather would have a significant impact on regional and long-distance traffic, as the company announced on its website. Passengers who wanted to postpone a trip planned on Wednesday could use their ticket at a later date.
Air traffic was also affected: the airport in Munich canceled more than 250 take-offs and landings out of the 650 originally planned flight movements in the morning due to freezing rain and slippery conditions.
Ice and snow at Frankfurt Airport initially caused 570 of the 1,047 planned flights to be canceled in advance. At midday, Germany’s largest airport had to completely stop aircraft take-offs. Because of the persistent freezing rain, the machines could no longer be safely de-iced before take-off, said a spokesman for the operator Fraport.
The airport in Saarbrücken completely stopped operations in the morning and there were no take-offs and landings.
In addition, many schools and daycare centers remained closed on Wednesday in the particularly affected regions, such as Saarland and Bavaria. Parents should inform themselves directly.
In a video on Tuesday, the weather service DWD warned urgently of a dangerous situation with snow and freezing rain. The meteorologists expected that an air mass boundary would run across Germany on Wednesday. Extreme black ice was expected in parts of Saarland as well as in some regions of Rhineland-Palatinate, southern Hesse and northern Bavaria. Because it rains there with negative temperatures at the same time.
Difficult weather conditions must also be expected further east, even if they are not quite as extreme as further west, the DWD video continued.
Mass snow may fall in the middle of Germany
According to the forecasts, it will also snow heavily in an area that includes the Eifel, Central Hesse and Thuringia.
In the coming days, the black ice is likely to remain in many areas of Germany, estimates the DWD, which issued further warnings of slippery conditions and snowfall for several districts, including the Alzey-Worms district in Hesse and the Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Freiburg districts Baden-Württemberg.
Since the weather models are not stable, it is urgently recommended to keep up to date with the current weather, advise the meteorologists.
The maps below show the current weather events, Current severe weather warnings from the DWD can be found here.
Weather map I: Rain, hail, snow: Current types of precipitation in Germany
The map below shows the current types of precipitation in different colors. It depicts lightning ice, sleet, hail, Rain, snow and sleet. In regions with sleet it can become dangerously slippery.
The map is provided by the wetter.de portal, which, like stern, belongs to RTL Deutschland.
Weather map II: Where it is currently raining or snowing
The interactive map below shows where precipitation is currently falling. You can also view the forecast for a later date using the timeline at the bottom of the graphic. At the top right, the level displayed can also be changed to, for example, temperature or wind.
The service is provided by Windy.com. The makers use the model from the “European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts” for their representations and forecasts.
Sources: DWD“Weather.de“, Bahn.de“Aero Telegraph” / with material from dpa
Am I obliged to shovel away the snow from my front door myself? From when until when do the paths have to be clear and what can you sprinkle with when it is slippery? We answer these and other questions for you in the video above.