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Fun in the snow: tobogganing on the Monopteros hill in the English Garden in Munich
Photo:
Peter Kneffel / dpa
“If you want to see winter, you have to go to the Harz Mountains.” There was a total of 18 centimeters of fresh snow there, said meteorologist Jens Oehmichen from the German Weather Service (DWD) on Sunday.
But not only in the Harz Mountains was it wintry at the weekend, but also in southern Bavaria and in North Rhine-Westphalia - good for winter sports enthusiasts, bad for drivers.
There were traffic accidents in many places.
In Hagen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, a 51-year-old lost control of her car on a snow-covered street on Sunday morning, skidded and crashed into a bus stop sign, the police said.
The driver was not injured.
In Detmold, a 20-year-old with his car, which according to the police was still equipped with summer tires, got off the snowy road on Sunday night and rolled over in the ditch, it was said.
The man was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Another 20-year-old driver also overturned his car in Detmold because the speed was not adjusted, the officials said.
The vehicle came to a standstill in an adjacent meadow.
Both the man and his 13-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries.
Accidents, power failure, danger of avalanches
Four people died in accidents in Bavaria, but it was initially unclear what role the weather played in these cases.
Because of the ice, there were at least eight accidents with some minor injuries, according to several police departments.
The day before, damage of more than 400,000 euros had occurred in at least 91 accidents in the Free State.
In Marktheidenfeld (Main-Spessart district), a trailer hit a power distributor and a street lamp.
The vehicle of the 46-year-old driver slipped on the snowy road at night, the police said.
The electricity had to be switched off for a short period of time for the rescue.
The large amount of fresh snow brought even more unpleasant things to the Bavarian Alps.
The avalanche danger increased there.
Above 2000 meters it is the highest, said the Bavarian avalanche warning service.
According to the information, the avalanche danger in parts of the Werdenfelser and Berchtesgadener Alps was significant and was therefore at level 3 of 5.
The snowfall gradually moved west on Sunday, according to the German Weather Service.
The meteorologists expected lows of minus three degrees.
At the start of the new week, the experts are still expecting some snow, at least near the Alps.
The daily highs should then be minus 2 to plus 4 degrees, in the higher mountains sometimes even lower.
On Saturday, fresh snow had fallen on the peaks in the Allgäu Alps and in the Bavarian Forest.
In some places it was icy, for example in Bodenmais or on the Ochsenkopf in the Fichtelgebirge with minus seven degrees.
With a more or less thick soup of fog, the visibility was moderate, but many winter sports fans were not put off by this.
In the Sauerland and in the Rothaargebirge there were good winter sports conditions again for the first time after weeks of dry spells.
Skiers and snowboarders also romped around on the slopes in the Harz Mountains and in the Ore Mountains.
In the neighboring Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, heavy snowfall caused widespread power failures and traffic accidents.
Several people lost their lives.
According to media reports, more than a hundred thousand households in Poland were temporarily without electricity.
Forecast: Light to moderate frost
According to forecasts, the influence of a high pressure area will ensure largely dry weather in Germany at the beginning of the new week.
"The temperature is still at winter levels," said DWD meteorologist Jacqueline Kernn.
Slight plus degrees are to be expected during the day on Monday.
It stays mostly dry.
Only in the vicinity of the Alps should there be some snowfall.
In addition to clouds, there will also be some loosening on Monday, especially in the south-west half.
The temperatures reach a maximum of minus 2 to plus 4 degrees, in the higher mountains it is also colder.
Strong gusty winds are possible in the southwest and at higher altitudes, and even squalls on mountain peaks.
On the night of Tuesday, the meteorologists expect widespread light to moderate frost at temperatures between minus 1 and minus 8 degrees.
The roads can be slippery in places.
According to the DWD, Tuesday will be cloudy but dry.
Maximum temperatures of zero to six degrees can be expected.
fok/dpa