– Roads can become dangerously slippery early in the week, warns the German weather service. Drivers should drive carefully. In some places, schools are also closed on Mondays.
Dangerous black ice hit large parts of Germany on the Monday night before Christmas. Freezing rain with black ice first appeared in the west and northwest, then in the center. There will also be widespread black ice showers in the Northeast and East throughout Monday, according to the DWD.
Temperatures will rise a bit this week. With the mild air comes rain, making the frozen ground slippery. “The center and the north are reached in the morning, especially when the rush hour traffic continues,” said Sonja Stöckle from the DWD weather forecasting center.
“Danger of ice with potential danger”
Even during the night there were accidents on the roads in some places due to bad weather. Four people were injured in a collision between two cars on a snowy road near Gaggenau (district of Rastatt). A 34-year-old driver was trapped in the crash and had to be freed from the car by rescuers.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, accidents occurred in the Rhein-Lahn district with two minor injuries. In the district of Warendorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, the police counted seven weather accidents with property damage between midnight and 3 in the morning. More accidents are feared in the morning hours. “Maybe one or the other can postpone the departure time a bit, at least until the gritting services are over,” a spokesman said.
The weather service has already issued official severe weather warnings for many regions in Germany. “There is a risk of ice with a potential danger from freezing rain,” he says.
In view of this, the DWD recommends that you avoid being outdoors as much as possible. Anyone who has to be out and about in their car on Mondays should adapt their driving style on the road. In addition, the DWD advises motorists to fill their tanks and to bring along blankets and warm drinks. Significant traffic delays are to be expected in both road and rail traffic.
Classes are suspended in some schools
There are also consequences for schools, for example in Lower Saxony: In several districts and cities, lessons will be suspended on Monday due to “expected extreme weather conditions” in all general and vocational schools.
This was announced by the districts of Celle, Hameln-Pyrmont, Bentheim County, 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 in primary and secondary schools, but not in vocational schools.
