The start of the weather in February will be uncomfortable in Germany. The German Weather Service warns of strong wind and hurricane gusts. A lot of wind and clouds dominate the weather in Germany in the first days of February. The news in the weather ticker.
Monday, February 06, 2023, 6:34 a.m .: Low temperatures and some areas of smoothness await people in Berlin and Brandenburg at the start of the week. As the German Weather Service (DWD) announced on Monday, the week started with light snowfall in parts of Berlin and Brandenburg. This can lead to freezing drizzle and ice in some areas. According to the reports, the rain will subside around noon and it will clear up in the evening. The maximum temperatures are between zero and two degrees. Tuesday night will remain clear and rain-free. It cools down considerably – according to the DWD, temperatures between minus five and minus nine degrees are expected.
Tuesday begins cloudless and dry, with scattered patches of fog appearing in the morning. The maximum values are between zero and three degrees. It shouldn’t rain at night either, although it will remain mostly clear. The lows are between minus five and minus ten degrees.
The sun will shine through on Wednesday and according to the forecast it will not rain. The temperatures during the day rise a little to one to three degrees. In the night to Thursday it will remain rain-free and only slightly cloudy. It cools down to temperatures between minus four and minus nine degrees.
Sunday, February 05, 2023, 10:21 a.m .: On Sunday it will be cold and smooth depending on the location in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. According to forecasts by the German Weather Service (DWD), a light frost of minus two degrees is possible at the beginning of the day. East of the North Sea, the German Weather Service expects rain and snow at up to minus four degrees.
Due to the expected precipitation and the low ground temperatures, the Hamburg city cleaning department had been on preventive action since 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning with around 230 employees and prepared some streets in Hamburg. According to the Hamburg city cleaning department, selected cycle paths will also be protected from ice formation and slippery surfaces by the gritting work from Sunday. The danger of ice should last until Monday night.
5:57 p.m .: Despite all the warnings of great avalanche danger, skiers in Austria have left the secured slopes, sometimes with fatal consequences. In the Zillertal in Tyrol, according to the police, a young skier could only be found dead under the snow masses on Saturday. A winter sportsman who had been missing since Friday evening had previously been found lifeless under an avalanche in Kleinwalsertal. The second highest avalanche warning level prevails in large parts of the Austrian Alps.
“People are very irresponsible on the go and always in the free ski area – they just don’t believe it,” said a spokesman for the authorities in Vorarlberg. On the Arlberg, a search for two possibly buried skiers was interrupted for several hours on Saturday because the danger of further avalanches had become too great for the rescue workers. Also on the Arlberg, a 15-year-old winter athlete was rescued alive after an avalanche in the open ski area after fifteen minutes under the snow and flown to the hospital.
In Tyrol, a 32-year-old Chinese skier died in an avalanche in Ötztal on Friday, and a 15-year-old was swept away by an avalanche in the Kitzbühel district and was seriously injured. More than a meter of fresh snow had fallen regionally in the past few days.
This also significantly hampered road traffic. The ÖAMTC traffic club counted 17 roadblocks in the morning due to the risk of avalanches. Snow chains were compulsory on 46 road sections.
5:56 p.m .: After rain and snow, a strong high pressure area will bring lots of sunshine to Germany next week. Before that, however, a storm at the southern tip of Greenland would bring some precipitation into the country, the German Weather Service (DWD) announced in Offenbach on Saturday.
During the night of Sunday, the rain in Schleswig-Holstein is likely to turn into wet snow or sleet, and there could also be freezing rain locally. During the day, the front spreads across the middle of Germany. The precipitation will then increasingly turn into snow or sleet over the course of the day from Hamburg and Lübeck to the Allgäu, expects meteorologist Helge Tuschy from the DWD. Where it snows a little more heavily, one to four centimeters of fresh snow can fall within twelve hours, especially in the north and between the Harz Mountains and Franconia and on the edge of the Alps. Between Lusatia and Rügen and from midday in the north-west, the cloud will break up and it will remain dry. The maximum values are one degree in the east and nine degrees in the west, in the eastern mountains light permafrost is to be expected.
Monday is then a transitional day with initially still dense clouds in many places and easing light snowfalls before the sun increasingly comes out in the afternoon, especially in the north and west. The maximum values are in the south and east of Bavaria around zero degrees, in the rest of Germany between one and six degrees. From Tuesday on it will be sunnier and dry under the influence of high pressure and frosty cold at night, where there is snow there can also be severe night frost.
Saturday, February 4, 2023, 9:25 a.m.: Drivers in Berlin and Brandenburg have to be prepared for the risk of ice at the weekend. The German Weather Service (DWD) warns on Saturday morning that ice can be expected due to freezing wet and frost at minus one degree. On Sunday, too, there may be some areas of ice.
After changing clouds until Saturday noon, the sun should also appear later in the day and it will remain dry. In the late afternoon and evening as well as at night it will remain largely cloudless. Temperatures are expected to be between two and four degrees.
According to the meteorologists, dense clouds will appear again on Sunday. From midday, snowfall or sleet is also expected in the Prignitz. In the other regions, however, it will remain mostly dry. During the night there should be occasional drizzle or snow grains. The temperatures on Sunday are between zero and two degrees.
7:37 p.m .: The recent snowfalls in Austria have led to a high risk of avalanches and significant disabilities on the roads. Warning level four out of five applies in large parts of the country. “With the fresh snow and the wind, we have all the ingredients for increased avalanche activity,” said the spokesman for the avalanche warning service in Tyrol, Patrick Nairz, on Friday. Winter sports enthusiasts should stay on the slopes as much as possible. It was said that anyone who wanted to ski in the open area should be very careful and avoid steep slopes. A winter sports enthusiast died on Friday in an avalanche off the piste in the Tyrolean Ötztal. The victim was resuscitated after the rescue, but died shortly thereafter, according to the police.
Regionally, more than a meter of fresh snow had recently fallen. Meteorologists expect gusts of wind on the mountains. By Sunday, there should also be significant amounts of snow above about 1000 meters. Some roads are only passable for cars with snow chains. On Friday, the fire brigade recorded numerous operations to salvage broken-down vehicles. Until a few days ago, artificial snow was necessary for winter sports in many places.
7:38 p.m .: Because of the stormy weather, trees fell in several regions of Brandenburg on Friday. There were also disruptions to train traffic. The fire brigades in the country had a lot of work. No injuries have been reported so far. The German Weather Service warned of gusts of wind and thunderstorms until Friday evening.
The Lausitz regional control center reported more than 100 operations due to the weather from noon to Friday afternoon. Trees fell, and some roads were blocked during operations. Power lines were also affected, said a spokesman for the control center, and brief power outages were reported. “Fortunately, we have not recorded any personnel damage.”
In Potsdam, the stormy weather triggered restrictions on tram and bus traffic because trees fell. The transport company expected disruptions to tram lines 92 and 96 until the evening. There were also increased deployments in Havelland and Ostprignitz. The Eberswalde regional control center reported fallen trees, some of which also fell on a residential building and a car. people were not injured. The Berlin S-Bahn also reported disruptions.
The German Weather Service warned of wind and gusts of wind until Friday evening. In some cases, severe gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour were possible in individual thunderstorms. The wind should drop on Saturday night. There could be slight frost and smoothness in the eastern parts of the country in the morning.
11.40 a.m .: Heavy snowfalls have increased the risk of avalanches dangerously in the Bavarian Alps. In some areas, level four out of five prevails – that means great danger, said the avalanche warning center in the Bavarian State Office for the Environment on Friday.
Away from the pistes, extreme caution is required. Avalanches could go off by themselves without any additional load – or be triggered by a single winter sports enthusiast. The new and snowdrift connects poorly with the old snowpack. The avalanche situation is expected to remain critical over the weekend.
In parts of eastern Bavaria and in the Alps there was heavy snowfall on Thursday and partly also on Friday night. Up to one meter of fresh snow fell in traffic jams, the State Office for the Environment announced.
On Tuesday, two ski tourers were buried by an avalanche on the Zugspitze. The group of three was climbing when a slab of snow came loose. One of the buried people was able to free himself and dug up the other ski tourer with his comrade. After around ten minutes, they were able to free the buried person from the masses of snow. He was taken to a hospital with hypothermia.
8:20 a.m .: Heavy snowfall on Friday night led to a large number of accidents in parts of southern and eastern Bavaria and disrupted morning rush hour traffic. There were a few accidents, especially in eastern Bavaria, but they were largely minor. The police headquarters in Oberpfalz alone reported almost 600 weather-related operations in the morning. There were 109 accidents with property damage. In 14 cases, people were slightly injured.
Several roads had to be completely or partially closed, including the federal highway 85 near Auerbach and parts of the B16 between the towns of Hauzendorf and Nittenau.
The Ministry of Education canceled school classes in the Lower Bavarian districts of Freyung-Grafenau and Regen and in the district of Cham (Upper Palatinate) on Thursday evening due to the heavy snowfall. In the districts of Straubing-Bogen and Deggendorf, there are no classes in the communities north of the Danube or in Deggendorf itself. In eastern Bavaria, the railway lines between Lam and Cham and between Cham and Waldmünchen were also closed.
The German Weather Service predicted further snowfall for the high altitudes of the Bavarian Forest. According to the forecast, strong gusts of wind can lead to drifts.
Friday, February 3rd, 6:34 a.m .: Large parts of Austria are sinking in the snow. By the weekend it should be snowing heavily again in almost all regions – up to a meter in places. This is reported by the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics. The highest warning level applies in some regions along the Alps. The weather service expects fresh snow amounts of 20 to 50 centimeters, especially in the mountains on the north side of the Alps. In congested areas of the mountains, even 75 to 100 centimeters are possible.
However, since the temperatures are around or above freezing in many places, the snow is wet and heavy. According to the “Salzburger Nachrichten”, weather experts would warn of avalanches, broken snow and snapping trees. The avalanche danger is to be reassessed on Friday.
Several roads have already been closed due to the risk of avalanches. Around 70 people are affected in the Styrian district of Liezen. “If it keeps snowing like this, we’ll soon be snowed in too,” a resident of Mariazellerland told “20 Minutes”.
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