Snow storm and black ice rain are rolling towards Germany.
The German Weather Service warns with the highest possible alert level for large parts of the country.
The DWD warning card shines brightly in various signal colors.
An extremely rare picture, even for someone who regularly deals with weather reports and weather warnings *.
With the help of the DWD meteorologist Felix Dietzsch, we are trying to classify what the bright colors mean and what threatens us in the colored parts of Germany.
Purple alert: DWD calls out the highest storm warning level - from Münster to Halle
Let's start with the most exciting color.
For an area that stretches across Germany, the highest possible severe weather warning level * five of the German Weather Service applies.
The area stretches from Münster in the west to Hanover in the north and Kassel in the south to Halle in the east and thus includes the four federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt.
According to the current status, the warning period begins at night on Sunday (February 7th) and continues until late Sunday evening.
Purple alert across Germany - why so drastic?
According to DWD meteorologist Dietzsch, two extreme weather conditions come together here.
It is getting bitterly cold, there is massive precipitation - and a stormy east wind is blowing.
All of this together can cause a traffic collapse, if not a traffic blackout.
Specifically, the DWD expects up to 40 centimeters of fresh snow * in the purple area.
In addition, an easterly wind storms with wind force eight.
According to Dietzsch, all of this can lead to "extreme drifts that block the traffic routes." In other words, a snowstorm is rolling in.
The last event of this kind happened in 1979 and is burned into German memory. *
DWD severe weather warning of the highest level in full
“With the prevailing wind conditions, extremely strong snow drifts occur due to the amount of fresh snow. It will spread smoothly.
DANGER!
Roads and railways can be impassable.
Avoid all car journeys!
"
Red alarm material for an even larger area - also clear storm warning
If we now take another look at our warning card (at the top of the article), we see a much larger red area around the purple-colored area.
An official severe weather warning also applies here, which is also very rarely given in this red, drastic form.
Essentially, exactly the same weather conditions are warned here with the same dangers in the same wording, just not quite as much snow falls.
The amount of precipitation varies between 25 and 40 centimeters depending on the region.
But that's not all.
Warning: Freezing rain possible in large parts of Germany
“The second construction site is the freezing rain,” says expert Dietzsch.
Completely detached from the expected snow chaos, the hitherto still rather diffuse threat, which also extends across Germany.
At this point, direct your attention to the red hatched areas in the warning map.
Rain can fall south of the snowstorm, which freezes immediately and "which then sets ice relatively quickly, so that thicker layers of ice form there".
Bare ice on the ground - not a nice idea.
The preliminary evaluation applies to an area that stretches from North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland Palatinate across Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt to Saxony in the east and deep into Bavaria in the south.
This does not mean that the ground is freezing to ice everywhere, but rather that the experts are not yet able to narrow down the warning area.
There will be acute warnings, says Dietzsch.
We will report as soon as these warnings become more specific.
It is already clear that the danger area will be as large as the snow storm.
When exactly and where exactly is not yet certain.
The black ice rain can also completely collapse traffic and damage infrastructure.
As soon as we know more, read it with us.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
