Freezing rain, snow, black ice: red alert in a number of districts - DWD also warns on Thursday
Created: 2022-12-15, 1:58 p.m
By: Marc Dimitriu, Stefanie Fischhaber
In the coming days it should remain frosty in Germany.
December is the coldest so far since 2010, and now it's bringing dangerous freezing rain with it.
Freezing rain and snow: The DWD warns of "massive restrictions on road and rail traffic".
DWD warns of black ice: Extreme storms are possible regionally.
Numerous accidents due to black ice and snow: rescue teams in southern Baden and Rhineland-Palatinate on duty.
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Update from December 15, 6.30 a.m .:
The DWD continues to warn of freezing rain and the resulting black ice on Thursday morning.
Storms are possible.
The extreme south of Germany, from the southern Black Forest to the southern and eastern foothills of the Alps, is particularly affected.
According to the DWD, there is a “danger to life and limb from suddenly freezing rain”.
Driving and staying outdoors should be avoided as much as possible.
The weather service expects severe traffic delays.
A level three severe weather warning is still in effect in the following districts - and thus a red alert:
District of Constance
Sigmaringen district
district of Biberach
Ravensburg district
Lake Constance district
District of Lindau (Lake Constance)
Oberallgaeu district
District of Unterallgaeu
Ostallgaeu district
District of Landsberg am Lech
Weilheim-Schongau district
Garmisch-Partenkirchen district
district of Starnberg
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district
district and city of Munich
district of Miesbach
district of Ebersberg
district and city of Rosenheim
District of Traunstein
district of Berchtesgadener Land
Freezing rain, snow, black ice: DWD also warns for the night
Update from December 14, 10:10 p.m .:
The German Weather Service also warns of further storms and the danger of black ice for the night of Thursday.
According to the official warning, a dangerous black ice situation has developed, especially between the Black Forest and the foothills of the Alps.
The level three severe weather warning currently remains in place.
In the extreme south, from the southern Black Forest to the southern and eastern foothills of the Alps, areas of freezing rain with black ice can continue to occur overnight.
North of the black ice area, the rain is replaced by snow.
Precipitation will decrease on Thursday morning.
According to the DWD, the risk of black ice should ease over the course of Thursday.
The DWD weather map is still bright red for southern Germany on Wednesday evening.
© Screenshot/ DWD
Numerous accidents due to black ice and snow: 250 accidents in Freiburg
Update from December 14, 5:45 p.m .:
After numerous black ice accidents in southern Baden, the city of Freiburg estimated the number of operations that the integrated control center had received since Wednesday morning at around 250. Pedestrians and cyclists were mainly injured, who had fallen on mirror-smooth roads, said the southern Baden city.
There were hardly any car accidents.
The focus was in the city of Freiburg.
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In a kind of makeshift hospital in a large exhibition hall in the city, around ten people were treated until the afternoon, it was said.
15 treatment places had been set up there in order to relieve the emergency rooms of the clinics, which were overloaded mainly due to black ice.
The situation had relaxed significantly in the afternoon, a city spokesman said.
Meanwhile, snowfall in Rhineland-Palatinate caused many traffic accidents and bus cancellations.
In the low mountain ranges, trucks crossed each other on slippery slopes, and cars also collided on slippery roads, according to the Koblenz police headquarters.
There were also a number of accidents in the north and south of Rhineland-Palatinate - mostly only with damage to the bodywork.
Update from December 14, 4:25 p.m .:
In Munich, air traffic had to be partially stopped due to the freezing rain.
A spokesman for Munich Airport said 133 flights had been canceled and 26 had been diverted.
It is still unclear when the runway can be reopened.
Danger of ice in Freiburg: the city blocks popular tourist destinations
Update from December 14, 3:01 p.m .:
In Freiburg, the black ice is so strong that large parts of the Münsterplatz, which is popular with tourists, and the main shopping mile in the old town had to be closed due to the mirror-smooth streets.
A city spokesman said it was very slippery on the cobblestones in particular.
The city cleaning has been scattering intensively since the early hours of the morning.
"But with the persistent weather - rain that freezes and does not thaw - the smoothness cannot be tackled everywhere and continuously," said a statement from the southern Baden city.
"The salt doesn't hold," said an employee of the
Badische Zeitung
, "the surface is too uneven and the salt immediately trickles into the joints".
Black ice accidents: clinics in Freiburg overloaded
Update from December 14, 2:20 p.m .:
In Freiburg, because the clinics are overcrowded due to the many black ice accidents, a treatment center in the Freiburg exhibition hall had to be set up.
The injured receive medical care there and are transported on as soon as a clinic has capacity again, the Red Cross announced on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning there were numerous accidents in the region due to black ice.
In the morning there were almost 200 injuries on the streets around Freiburg.
Around 70 helpers from the Red Cross, the Malteser and Johanniter were on duty in tents set up in the Freiburg exhibition hall from midday on Wednesday.
Danger from freezing rain and snow: red alert!
DWD warns of black ice - these circles are affected
Update from December 14, 1:11 p.m .:
The temperatures remain in the minus range at noon and thus continue to cause black ice and frost.
The frost warning from the DWD now also affects large parts of eastern Germany.
Red alert including black ice warning applies to several
Districts and cities in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
These are currently affected:
Bavaria:
District and city of Augsburg
District of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
District of Berchtesgardener Land
District of Dachau
District of Dillingen an der Donau
district of Ebersberg
Freising district
District of Garmisch-Partenkirchen
District of Günzburg
district and city of Landshut
District of Landberg am Lech
District of Lindau (Lake Constance)
Miesbach
district Munich district
City of Munich
Mühldorf am Inn district
District of Neu-Ulm
Oberallgaeu district
Ostallgaeu district
district and city of Rosenheim
district of Starnberg
District of Traunstein
District of Unterallgäu
Weilheim-Schongau district
Baden-Württemberg:
Alb-Donau-Kreis
City of Ulm
Lake Constance district
Enz district and the city of Pforzheim
Boeblingen district
district of Biberach
district of Calw
district of Esslingen
Freudenstadt District
Goeppingen district
district of Heidenheim
District of Constance
district of Loerrach
Ravensburg district
district of Reutlingen
district of Rottweil
Black Forest-Baar district
Schwäbisch Hall district
Sigmaringen district
Waldshut district
Ostalbkreis
Rems-Murr district
Zollernalb district
Fire brigade warns against stepping on ice surfaces - danger to life exists
Update from December 14, 11:44 a.m .:
Although we have been running almost all over Germany for days
The Baden-Baden fire brigade advises all citizens to be particularly careful when stepping on ice surfaces when temperatures are below zero.
“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 is crackling and cracking, has cracks or if water is gushing onto the surface, the ice surface should not be stepped on.
Those already on the ice should lie flat to spread the weight over a larger area and crawl to shore.
Furthermore, a DWD warning of black ice applies to the southern halves of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
In the rest of Germany the situation is not quite as bad, but here too at least there are warnings of frost and light snowfall.
Black ice warning: Katwarn triggers – car accidents increase in the morning
Update from December 14, 10:12 a.m .:
The warning app Katwarn has because of the black ice warning of the
German Weather Service (DWD) for large parts of Upper Bavaria and the Baden-Württemberg border region to Switzerland.
The freezing rain in the south and the snow in the north are particularly dangerous on the road.
“Freezing rain would be less dangerous than freezing rain.
This immediately forms a smooth surface on the roads," said a DWD meteorologist.
The slippery roads have already led to several accidents in southern Baden in the morning.
One driver was slightly injured, police said.
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.
Danger from freezing rain and snow: DWD warns of black ice - regional extreme storms possible
Update from December 14, 6:12 a.m .:
It should be particularly dangerous on Wednesday on the roads in southern Germany due to freezing rain and snow.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warns of sometimes long-lasting, often freezing rain.
From the Black Forest to Lower Bavaria and south of it, the meteorologists expect widespread black ice and a high potential for severe weather.
Extreme storms cannot be ruled out regionally.
The DWD expects severe traffic obstructions and damage to the supply infrastructure.
Already on Tuesday evening there were sometimes difficult conditions on the roads.
The police and meteorologists called on the drivers to adjust their speed to the weather.
The Freiburg police headquarters even warned of the enormous risk of accidents.
In Hamburg-Schnelsen, a car with summer tires crashed into a bridge railing over the A7 on a slippery road, the driver was trapped in his car and slightly injured.
Minus 25 degrees measured in Bavaria: “Snow and freezing rain” follows on Wednesday night
First report from December 13:
Munich – We are still in the autumn calendar, but the winter weather has already hit hard.
In addition to the first snow, which has been lying for a few days now, there is also icy cold.
On Tuesday morning, December 13, minus 17 degrees were measured at a height of two meters in the Upper Harz Mountains and in Geisingen.
This is reported by qualified meteorologist Dominik Jung, managing director of the weather service Q.met, to the weather portal
wetter.net
.
“At a measuring height of around five cm, the weather stations measured significantly lower values.
It was around minus 25 degrees at the Oberhaching-Laufzorn weather station in Bavaria this Tuesday morning!
An icy cold for the first half of December,” said Jung.
In the course of the day it should get warmer again, with a mix of sun and clouds.
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the temperatures will rise to just over 0 degrees in some places.
According to Jung, the coming night should not be quite as cold either, “at least not in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg”.
Because clouds would gather there and in places they would bring "snow and freezing rain, which will extend to Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland."
DWD warns of black ice: "Massive restrictions on road and rail traffic"
The DWD also issued an official frost warning for the whole of Germany today.
For Bavaria and parts of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and northern Saxony there is even a warning of severe frost and ice.
A special warning of storms and black ice applies in the coming night in the foothills of the Alps.
“In the night of Wednesday, precipitation will come from the southwest, some of which will initially fall as snow, but will quickly turn into freezing rain.
Widespread black ice must be reckoned with!
It cannot be ruled out that the freezing rain will last for many hours.
As a result, massive restrictions in road and rail traffic are to be expected.
In addition, there can be damage to the infrastructure, such as electricity pylons and lines," says the DWD.
Christmas weather still uncertain: Permafrost is currently predicted
But also in the coming days, until the 4th of Advent, it will remain cold.
According to qualified meteorologist Dominik Jung, it will be milder again afterwards, but according to current calculations by the US weather model of NOAA, there will only be a 48-hour reduction.
Then it could get colder again.
With a view to Christmas, Jung explains: “At Christmas this morning, the model is even anticipating icy times.
Permafrost and night values around minus 10 to minus 20 degrees.
But this is only a current snapshot.
Yesterday, a very mild Christmas was calculated.
That just goes to show: nothing is certain when it comes to Christmas weather!”
"December is completely out of line": Coldest December since 2010 - probably no heat record for 2022
So far we have also had the coldest December since 2010. According to Jung, the current temperatures are around 1.2 degrees below the average climate for the years 1961 to 1990.
"It's the old climate remedy.
If you compare it with the new climate mean for the years 1991 to 2020, the month is even around 1.5 to 2 degrees too cold.
That is an unusually high negative deviation, especially since in 2022 we actually had one month after the other that was too warm.
December is now completely out of line, has stopped the warming trend!”
2022 could have been the warmest year since measurements began, but thanks to the cold December, we'll miss this record and it will "probably 'only' be enough for second place."
