The warning is unmistakable: people should change their plans and stay at home if possible. According to weather experts, there is a threat of a highly dangerous weather situation from Thursday evening, which could worsen massively into Friday. Especially on roads and in open terrain, there is a serious risk to life and limb.

The situation is triggered by the coincidence of a comparatively mild Atlantic storm low with a very cold air mass over Europe. It is precisely at the boundary line between warm and ice-cold air that the greatest danger arises. This zone runs in the night to Friday from eastern Lower Saxony through parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringia to Franconia. Freezing rain and dangerous black ice are to be expected there.

A foretaste of what is threatening in many places could already be observed a few days ago: Strong winds blew snow over the roads, turning streets into a white, structureless surface and making any orientation almost impossible.

On Friday morning, especially between 6 and 9 a.m., the storm will move further north and east. The warmer air is hardly making any progress and remains stuck in the west and south of Germany while an intense snowstorm passes through. As a result, a weather phenomenon that is extremely rare in Germany can develop: a so-called blizzard, in which heavy snowfall and strong winds come together.

A comparable scenario last occurred in January 1979, when a severe snow disaster paralyzed large parts of northern Germany. At that time, numerous villages were cut off from the outside world, and there were fatalities. Statistically, such extreme weather conditions only occur about every 50 years – now a similar development is on the table again.

Heavy snowfall is to be expected, especially in the north and east of Germany, in some cases with several centimetres of fresh snow in a short time. In addition, there is a very strong wind that constantly blows and whirls up the snow. Visibility can drop to almost zero – only a diffuse white remains.

The low mountain ranges are also severely affected. There, the snow line will fall to about 300 to 400 meters on Friday afternoon and will sink further later. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Saarland, additional hurricane-like gusts are expected. In these regions, experts warn of extreme amounts of fresh snow of up to 40 centimeters by Saturday morning. Massive snowdrifts can make roads and towns completely impassable – conditions that rarely occur in Germany.

In northern and northeastern regions such as Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there is a risk of vehicles getting stuck in snowdrifts. If you are on foot, you can easily lose your orientation, get snowed in and cool down within a short time. Exhaustion and hypothermia can quickly become life-threatening.

In wooded areas of the low mountain ranges, there is another risk: the combination of heavy, wet snow and storms can cause trees to break or fall. Power outages are also not ruled out.

Since the cold air is expected to prevail again in the end and the weather situation as a whole remains extremely complex, experts strongly advise against making unnecessary journeys - especially on motorways. The clear recommendation is: If possible, stay at home and wait for the dangerous weather hours.















Author: MF-Redaktion
Source: Wetterfrosch.com