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Warning sign: Avoid driving on slippery roads if possible
Photo: Armin Weigel / picture alliance / dpa
The current cold weather in many parts of Germany has a Christmassy feel to it.
But on Monday night, frosty temperatures combined with precipitation will cause problems.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warns of the widespread danger of black ice.
In the late evening and especially at night, rain comes up that freezes when it hits the ground and objects, the DWD announced on Sunday.
Strong and persistent impairments in road and rail traffic are very likely in some areas.
The DWD expects a slight frost between 0 and minus 4 degrees on Monday night.
During the night it will be significantly milder from the west.
On Monday morning there is still a risk of black ice, especially in the east and in the mountains.
According to the DWD, the rain reached the extreme west of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate shortly before midnight and spread eastwards in the following hours.
"The center and the north are reached in the morning - of all things for the start of the rush hour," said Sonja Stöckle from the DWD weather forecast center.
The rain is expected to ease over the course of the day.
In the evening there will be no precipitation and the temperatures will rise to between 7 and 11 degrees.
The fire brigade in Berlin warned against entering the ice surfaces on the waters because of the expected thaw.
In Cologne, the authorities announced a large-scale operation of the winter service.
Another snowless Christmas
According to the DWD, the supply of mild air will remain for the rest of the week.
"By Christmas Eve, the last of the snow will have melted away almost everywhere," said Stöckle.
"So the first thing to say is: Goodbye winter, no snow at Christmas." It rains again and again, the daily highs remain in the high single-digit or even double-digit range.
Only in the high altitudes of the Alps does it remain white in winter.
The fourth weekend in Advent had a wintry start: many people in Germany were out and about in snow, freezing temperatures and sunshine.
All major ski areas in the Harz Mountains were open.
Because of the energy crisis, the operators had actually shied away from starting their snow cannons early for fear that the snow could melt away and production would be in vain.
However, the plan was changed when it was sometimes down to minus 13 degrees in the Harz Mountains.
Ski resorts in Bavaria also started the winter season with picture-perfect weather.
However, conservationists drew attention to the environmental pollution caused by snow cannons in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday.
"Waste energy - without us!" was written on posters and a banner.
ala/dpa
