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Slippery road on federal highway 27 in Baden-Württemberg
Photo: Silas Stein / dpa
The roads in southern Germany are likely to be particularly dangerous on Wednesday due to freezing rain and snow.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned of sometimes long-lasting, often freezing rain.
From the Black Forest to Lower Bavaria and south of it, the meteorologists expect black ice and a high potential for severe weather.
Extreme storms cannot be ruled out regionally.
The DWD expects severe traffic obstructions and damage to the supply infrastructure.
Already on Tuesday evening there were sometimes difficult conditions on the roads.
Police and meteorologists called on drivers to adjust their speed to the weather.
The police headquarters in Freiburg even warned of the enormous risk of accidents.
Accidents are already increasing in many regions.
Summer tires and slippery road
In Hamburg-Schnelsen on Tuesday, a car crashed into a bridge railing over Autobahn 7 on a slippery road. The driver was trapped in the car and slightly injured. According to a police spokeswoman, he had to be freed by the fire brigade.
According to initial findings, a slippery road and summer tires could have been the cause.
On Wednesday night, a car fell seven meters from a bridge in Lower Saxony.
A woman had broken through the railing of the bridge in Lehrte with her car and landed on the roof of a street below.
The driver of an approaching car was able to brake just in time.
Together with his passengers, he cared for the injured woman, who was able to free herself from the completely destroyed wreck.
The 58-year-old was taken to the hospital but was not in mortal danger, police said.
The cause of the accident in this case is still unclear.
Up to ten centimeters of snow in some areas
According to the DWD, snow will fall in certain areas on Wednesday from the southwest to Rhineland-Palatinate, Central Hesse, the Thuringian Forest and eastern Bavaria - 1 to 8 centimeters are possible, in places it could even be 10 centimeters.
North of the low mountain range it should be sunny, on the Schleswig-Holstein North Sea coast cloudy with occasional snow showers.
On Wednesday afternoon and evening, the meteorologists expect the ice situation to relax in some areas.
In the south, however, the danger of ice has not yet been averted.
From the High Rhine to the southern foothills of the Alps, there could still be freezing rain or rain with an increased risk of ice on Thursday night.
Freezing rain is when rain or drizzle falls from a warmer layer of air into a colder layer.
When the supercooled drops of water hit the frozen ground, they instantly turn into ice crystals and cover streets, buildings and cars with a thin layer of ice.
The phenomenon is therefore also called freezing rain.
ala/dpa