Dangerous black ice hit large parts of Germany on the night of Monday before Christmas. Freezing rain with black ice first appeared in the west and north-west, later in the middle. According to the DWD, there will also be widespread black ice rain in the north-east and east over the course of Monday.
Temperatures will rise a bit this week. With the mild air comes rain, which makes the frozen ground slippery. “The center and the north are reached in the morning – of all things when the rush-hour traffic rolls on,” said Sonja Stöckle from the DWD weather forecast center.
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, two people were slightly injured in an accident in the Rhein-Lahn district. 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.
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 DWD advises avoiding being outdoors as much as possible. Anyone who has to be out and about by car on Monday should adapt their driving style in road traffic. In addition, the DWD advises motorists to fill up their tanks and take blankets and warm drinks with them. Significant traffic disruptions 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 will be canceled on Monday due to the “expected extreme weather conditions” at all general and vocational schools.
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.
