Onset of winter in December: Germany weather already like Christmas – “cold whip” approaching
Created: 12/02/2022 11:37 am
By: Patrick Freiwah
The pre-Christmas period is here: In parts of Germany, winter is spreading, in many places there are several centimeters of fresh snow.
It should be the start of an extreme December.
Munich – The German weather finally switches to winter mode.
While the temperatures in the past few weeks have mostly been well above freezing, this is changing rapidly these days.
In the night of Friday (December 2nd) snow spread in various regions of Germany.
In eastern Germany, especially Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, as well as the low mountain ranges, Hesse and parts of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and also partly in northern Germany, the flakes are "dancing", as weather expert Dominik Jung puts it.
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Naturally, it snowed a lot on the Zugspitze and the Großer Arber, which are also the highest regions in Germany.
The Feldberg in the Black Forest (20 centimeters of fresh snow) follows with a few exceptions, followed statistically by the regions of Osterfeld, Fichtelberg and Leipzig/Halle.
While children and some adults may be delighted by the amount of snow, road users with cars and bicycles should be particularly careful: If you don't have winter tires on them yet, you should change them as soon as possible!
Danger of ice and the associated slippery road represent a danger and traditionally cause numerous accidents, deployments and hospital stays during these months.
On Friday it will be overcast in most regions.
"The sky is almost uniformly gray all over Germany," says qualified meteorologist Gernot Schütz.
Light snowfall is expected in the north and east of the republic, while rain and possibly sleet will also occur in lower elevations in southern and central Hesse.
The maximum values are given by the German Weather Service (DWD) between two and six degrees.
A woman pushes her pram along a snow-covered footpath in Leipzig.
© Jan Woitas/dpa
Light permafrost with values between two and minus three degrees is expected in the higher mountains in southern Germany.
And for the further course on December 2nd and 3rd, the weather service expects light snowfall and the risk of ice in some areas for the night on Saturday.
Snow in Germany: A foretaste of an extremely cold December?
Meteorologist Jan Schenk explains the weather forecast for the coming days: The current precipitation is just a foretaste of what is still to come.
So after this weekend there will be a small "warm air" before further, massive cold air reaches Germany and also floods the European continent as a whole.
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Here, as almost always, the principle applies that this drop in temperature spreads to the Alps, while the regions south of it are spared and it stays warmer there.
The high pressure will say goodbye to Greenland and Siberia, while cold polar air will flow to Germany via Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
As a result, winter should really be making its mark in this country as early as next week.
"It's going to be really cold, really winter," weather expert Schenk is convinced - that means dressing warmly and being careful of ice if you want to be outside of your own home when temperatures are around freezing.
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In view of the looming "cold whip" can we expect a white Christmas this year?
"The weather forecasts are fidgeting back and forth," says the meteorologist, explaining that the cold front could be over by mid-December.
As of now, this question cannot be answered reliably.
(PF)