De Lijn buses experience a lot of inconvenience, especially in Limburg, Flemish Brabant and the Flemish Ardennes. In some regions they can no longer pass or they have to stay on the main roads or take a detour. “This is especially the case in smaller villages, on slopes and hills and on bridges,” says Astrid Hulhoven of De Lijn. “Our traffic control continues to monitor everything.”
De Lijn decided during the afternoon to cancel all bus traffic in Limburg. “The drivers remain available at the various depots: if the weather conditions improve, they can drive out again,” it said. Travelers are fine the De Lijn website check for more information.
The nuisance is greater in Wallonia. There are now hardly any buses from public transport company TEC running there. An exception to this are some bus lines in the Namur region, just like the MLC, the light rail system in Charleroi, explains Stéphane Thiery, marketing director and spokesperson at TEC.
This morning, phase four was already active in the province of Luxembourg. Due to the persistent snow, the province of Liège also followed suit in the afternoon. After 5 p.m., the TEC decided to also declare phase four in the other provinces. It is also not yet clear whether bus traffic can resume on Thursday morning.
Still long traffic jams
The Roads and Traffic Agency also warns after the evening rush hour about slippery roads and cycle paths due to winter precipitation. Throughout Flanders, road surface temperatures are at or below freezing point. There is also snow in many places or it is currently snowing. AWV therefore asks road users to be very careful, reduce speed, keep their distance and stay well behind the gritters.
The winter weather means traffic is slower, especially in and around Brussels. Shortly before 4 p.m., the Belliard tunnel towards the E40 and the Reyers-Meiser tunnel were closed. The intersection between Kruidtuinlaan and Koningslaan was also temporarily inaccessible.
In addition, the speed on various highways was also reduced to seventy kilometers per hour. For the time being, no major incidents have been reported on the highways, but things are difficult on a number of ramps on the Brussels ring road. Smaller incidents were also reported elsewhere during the day, AWV notes.
“At the moment there are still traffic jams of 2 hours. Especially in the east of Flemish Brabant, it takes some time to queue,” said VRT traffic expert Hajo Beeckman around 7:30 p.m. In total, there are approximately 1,500 kilometers of traffic jams on Belgian roads.
Roads and Traffic also asks drivers to pay attention to the left lane of the highways. Fewer cars drive there, which means that the road salt cannot work as well. The agency recommends that drivers use the site of the Flemish Traffic Center to stay informed of the traffic situation.
Roads and Traffic asks you to be particularly careful when you go on the road, especially during or shortly after snowfall. Keep your distance and moderate your speed.
Cancellations and delays at Brussels Airport
Due to the continued snowfall, there will be delays at Brussels Airport this evening and flights will also be cancelled. “The runways must be cleared of ice and snow and the aircraft must be de-iced. That takes time,” says spokeswoman Ihsane Chioua Lekhli.
Apart from a few canceled flights to and from Germany due to problems at Frankfurt and Munich airports, Zaventem airport has not experienced any major problems so far. But due to the continued snowfall, new delays and cancellations are inevitable. The impact will probably be major.
Brussels Airport advises passengers to check the flight status via the airport website. The airlines will inform passengers if their flight is cancelled.
Dryer from next night
The precipitation will become less intense on Wednesday evening and it will become largely dry over Flanders during the night. Some snow may fall over the southeastern half of the country for a large part of the night and by morning the last snow should be concentrated over the far south of the country. It will freeze again in most places, with minimum temperatures fluctuating from -10 degrees locally in the High Fens to +1 degrees near the sea.
The last snow will leave the far south of the country on Thursday morning, after which it will become dry everywhere and there will be beautiful sunny periods. However, from the North Sea, winter showers are gradually moving across the northwest of the country again. The maximum temperatures fluctuate between -4 degrees on the High Fens, around +2 degrees in the center of the country and up to +3 degrees on the coast.
It will remain dry in most places on Friday with beautiful sunny periods, except south of Sambre and Meuse, where low clouds and freezing fog may linger. The maximum temperatures fluctuate around freezing point in the center of the country.
It will also remain dry on Saturday with a chance of low clouds and freezing fog in the morning. Afterwards it becomes quite sunny everywhere. The maximum temperatures fluctuate around 0 to -1 degree in the center of the country. In the High Fens it does not get much warmer than -5 degrees above the snow cover. It will be about 3 degrees at the seaside.
Extreme weather expected in neighboring countries, weather codes in force everywhere
An extreme area of precipitation will move across Europe on Wednesday. As a result, a lot of snow falls in many countries. In the south of the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia, many schools remain closed. It will snow heavily there from Wednesday morning and about 25 centimeters of snow is expected to fall until Thursday morning, German media report.
The German weather services expect that road traffic and rail will be significantly affected by the bad weather. A lot of snow will fall, especially in Bonn, Aachen and in the districts of Euskirchen, Siegen-Wittgenstein and Rhein-Sieg.
The Deutscher Wetterdienst has issued code purple elsewhere in the country. That is the highest of four weather codes (yellow, orange, red and purple). This concerns the areas around Saarbrücken and Darmstadt. The service warns of snow, icy rain and blocked roads and tracks. Extreme icy conditions can also occur in areas where it rains. Up to 30 centimeters of snow could fall north of the city of Mainz until Thursday morning.
In France, code orange will be in force in about a third of the country on Wednesday. This concerns all areas north of Orléans and Dijon. Météo France warns not only of snow and ice, but also of flooding. According to the weather service, this will be “a period of freezing rain, followed by a period of snow.”
The most snow fell in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. The BBC reports that more than a hundred schools in Scotland have been closed due to the heavy snowfall. The national weather service Met Office is warning of snow and ice across Scotland and northern Wales and England. Code yellow applies in these areas. Less snow is expected on Wednesday, but code yellow remains in force in large parts of the country.
