Weather service warns of black ice

Created: 2022-12-13, 6:56 p.m

By: Peter Schiebel, Hanna von Prittwitz

Attention, tonight and on Wednesday morning black ice is possible.

© dpa

The German Weather Service issued a storm warning for the Starnberg district on Tuesday.

Black ice is to be expected by Thursday, 9 a.m.

The winter services have adapted to this.

County

– It remains to be seen how bad it will be in the end.

One thing is certain: until Thursday, 9 a.m., there is a warning from the German weather service about storms and black ice in the Starnberg district.

The meteorologists expect precipitation coming from the south-west during the night, some of which will initially fall as snow, but will quickly turn into freezing rain.

"There must be a widespread expectation of black ice," warned the weather service on Tuesday.

And he did not rule out that this situation could last for many hours.

As a result, massive restrictions in road and rail traffic are to be expected, and damage to the infrastructure cannot be ruled out.

In the district of Starnberg, the official bodies prepared for the situation on Tuesday.

The depot in Starnberg, for example, had already assigned the first two employees of the winter service to clearing and gritting at 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

22 other employees have been alerted for 4 a.m.

This means that the entire Tuesday shift should be in action early.

"It is important that our people are there before the freezing rain starts," explained depot manager Martina Sontheim on Tuesday.

The winter service clears and grit the city's streets and squares according to clearly defined levels of urgency.

"Pedestrian protection has top priority," said Sontheim, citing the church square, the station square and bus stops as examples.

Then follow roads with heavy traffic and bus traffic,

for example Hanfelder Strasse.

A tour usually lasts three hours.

"We're very excited and preparing ourselves," said Felix Weiß.

He is the head of the Gilching road maintenance department and found out about the impending weather conditions on Tuesday morning.

The road maintenance department in Gilching, with its base in Söcking and together with the road maintenance department in Wolfratshausen, is responsible for the maintenance of the regional transport network and around 60 kilometers of footpaths and cycle paths in the district.

Five weather stations in Obertraubing, Erling, Oberpfaffenhofen, Wörthsee and on the Landsberg district border in Martinsberg provide the road maintenance department with data every day and with images every ten minutes, which in turn are forwarded to the German Weather Service.

This then creates forecasts based on the weather report.

That's why Weiß and his team also know that when the snow turns to rain at around 3 a.m. tonight, it will be as smooth as glass.

Because the surface of the streets is minus eight degrees, at a depth of 15 centimeters it's still minus five degrees, at a depth of 30 centimeters it's minus one degree.

And the slippery surface is treacherous: "For the driver, the road only looks wet.

It's hard for him to judge how slippery it is," says Weiß.

The announced weather conditions are "basically not unusual in winter, but already in December".

White usually knows such situations from February.

"We already had that in December, but rarely." Since this Tuesday evening, 6 p.m., the total of nine gritting vehicles are to be on the road on all state, district and federal roads to grit 220 kilometers of road network plus cycle paths and parking spaces.

At around 2 a.m. the operations manager is to go out to take a look at the situation, and at 3 a.m. another complete dispersal is planned.

A mixture of dry and liquid salt is spread.

"It sticks better and works faster," explains Weiß.

In total, the road maintenance department has spread 150 tons of salt since the beginning of winter, "a normal amount for the time of year".

The Starnberg police traffic officer, Oliver Jauch, meanwhile appealed to drivers to reduce the number of trips “to the absolute minimum”.

In general, the following applies: “Keep your eyes open, drive carefully and with foresight and adjust your speed.” The maximum speeds given only apply under the most favorable circumstances.

Jauch emphasized that patches of forest and bridges are particularly treacherous because the snow stays there longer or it freezes faster.