Freezing rain builds ice shells: warning of ice surfaces

Created: 2022-12-14Updated: 2022-12-14, 11:11 am

Tire tracks are visible on a road in the snow.

© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/symbol image

The frosty cold winter weather also brings dangers with it.

The German weather service warns of thick black ice in parts of Baden-Württemberg.

Traffic delays are to be expected.

And it remains uncomfortable - outside.

Stuttgart – Freezing rain in the south, snow in the north, gusts of wind in the Upper Black Forest: Wednesday's weather poses dangers for many people who are out and about.

The German weather service warned in an official severe weather warning of thick black ice in parts of Baden-Württemberg.

"The precipitation is so heavy that the ice sheet is growing so that there is a widespread expectation of smoothness," said a DWD meteorologist.

Large parts of southern Baden to Upper Swabia and possibly also the Swabian Alb should therefore be affected.

“Freezing rain would be less dangerous than freezing rain.

This immediately forms a smooth surface on the roads," said the meteorologist.

Significant traffic delays were expected.

The DWD expected light snowfall with amounts of up to five centimeters in the north and in the middle of the state until Wednesday evening.

In the night of Thursday - especially in the middle of the country - it should then continue to snow.

The forecast: Up to three centimeters of fresh snow, partly also slippery due to freezing wet.

According to the DWD, stormy gusts of up to 80 kilometers per hour should rise over the high altitudes of the southern Black Forest on Thursday night.

There is also fog.

The Baden-Baden fire brigade advises all citizens to exercise particular caution when entering ice surfaces.

“Children are particularly at risk.

They easily overestimate the still far too thin ice cover.

Even if the ice appears solid near the shore, it can look different a few meters away.

If the ice breaks away, you inevitably fall into the water.

The result is life-threatening hypothermia.”

According to the fire department, the ice must be at least 15 centimeters thick.

Stepping on ice that has dark spots or cracks is life-threatening.

Crowds of people like ice skating are just as life-threatening because of the risk of overloading.

If the ice crackles and cracks, has cracks or if water gushes onto the surface, the ice surface should not be stepped on.

If you're already on the ice, lie flat to spread your weight over a larger area and crawl to shore.

Forest Minister Peter Hauk (CDU) said that the risk of branches breaking and falling that give way under the load is increasing.

This is a significant danger for forest visitors.

“Furthermore, forest paths can become icy and very slippery or blocked by fallen trees.

Therefore, for the time being, these forest areas should be avoided at all costs until the snow has melted from the branches of the trees and safe path conditions have been restored.” Hauk appealed to people to postpone forest hikes or to move the routes outside the forest.

Hauk also recommended the free app “Hilfe im Wald”.

In an emergency, this could navigate the helpers to the injured.

On the B 28 in the direction of Kehl, there were disabilities on Wednesday morning after several accidents on a slippery road.

According to the police, two vehicles had to brake due to traffic, which caused a following vehicle to skid.

All three vehicles collided as a result.

In the backwater itself, there were two subsequent accidents.

One person was slightly injured.

The B28 was blocked in the direction of Kehl.

In Gaggenau (Rastatt district), a driver drove his vehicle into a wall and was slightly injured.

The Freiburg police also reported several accidents: Among other things, one car slipped into a guardrail, two others drove into a wall.

A driver also went off the road with the vehicle and stopped in the ditch.

However, nobody was injured in the accidents.

dpa