The joy at the end of the freezing temperatures gives way to worries about the way to school or work. The roads are dangerously slippery, especially in the north and west of the country. Anyone who does not have to go outside should stay at home is warned.
Dangerous black ice hit large parts of Germany on the night of the week before Christmas. In the north and in the middle there is initially a risk of black ice, from noon at the latest, according to the ntv weather expert Björn Alexander, there is also a risk of black ice rain in the far east. In the west, meanwhile, it will soon dry again. And in the south, too, it will remain mostly dry and, apart from the permanent fog, sunny at times. The temperatures: in the foggy regions in the south-east of the country it is still frosty at -4 to 0 degrees, otherwise the thermometer rises to 4 to 10 degrees with a strong south-west wind.
According to Alexander, the weather change will be sustainable. This was shown by the current computer calculations. Friends of snow and ice would either have to aim very high for the White Christmas - or at least keep their fingers crossed. There is still a bit of hope for snow at the festival.
At the start of the week, many Germans are plagued with other concerns. Even during the night, there were accidents on the roads in some places due to the weather. Four people were injured in a collision between two cars on a snow-covered road near Gaggenau (Rastatt district). A 34-year-old driver was trapped in the impact and had to be freed from the car by rescue workers.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, there were accidents in the Rhein-Lahn district with two minor injuries. In the district of Warendorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, the police counted seven weather-related accidents with property damage between midnight and 3 a.m. One fears more accidents in the morning hours. "Perhaps one or the other can postpone their departure time a bit, at least until the gritting services are over," said a spokesman early in the morning.
The weather service has already issued official severe weather warnings for many regions in Germany. "There is a risk of ice with a potential hazard from freezing rain," it says. In view of this, the German Weather Service (DWD) advises avoiding being outdoors as much as possible. Anyone who has to travel by car should adjust their driving style in traffic. In addition, the DWD advises motorists to fill up their tanks and take blankets and warm drinks with them. Significant traffic delays must be expected in both road and rail traffic.
There are also consequences for schools, for example in Lower Saxony: In several districts and cities, classes are canceled at all general and vocational schools due to the “expected extreme weather conditions”. This was announced by the districts of Celle, Hameln-Pyrmont, County of Bentheim, Leer, Osterholz, Stade, Wittmund and Vechta as well as the cities of Delmenhorst, Hildesheim and Wolfsburg - as well as the city and district of Osnabrück. In the city and district of Göttingen, there are no classes at primary and secondary schools, but not at vocational schools.
