Wagner, ARD Meteorologist: “It’s already a notable winter storm”

According to the evaluation, Germany has a climate as extreme as these days ARD-Meteorologist Andreas Wagner last experienced in 2012. The cause of the cold snap is a rare combination of high and low pressure areas.

tagesschau.de: Germany talks about extreme weather conditions. How unusual is the weather at this time?

Andreas Wagner: We only had a weather situation similar to what we are currently experiencing in 2012, with equally low temperatures and lots of fresh snow. It can, and must be explained over and over, happen over and over, even in the face of climate change. Arctic outbreaks of cold air occur almost every winter somewhere on earth. Usually we don’t notice anything about it. This year, high and low pressure areas are right for this cold snap to begin. When there is snow, and there is cold air, very severe frosts down to minus 20 degrees are quite typical in such weather conditions.

How does such a meteorological situation actually occur?

Wagner: The cold peak “Gisela” has spread from Greenland through Scandinavia to the Baltic states. At the same time, we are faced with a whole chain of low pressure zones that are moving from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean. Snow so deep that “Tristan” could bring us the snowstorm in much of the country. Since the arrangement of printed material in Europe hardly changes at the moment, Germany remains in the very cold eastern stream. The climax when it comes to snow is today. At the moment it is still snowing in much of the center and to the east, but that will quickly subside tonight. The wind from the east or northeast is also decreasing a bit slowly, but there is still a storm in the North Sea, where there were even strong gusts of wind on Sunday.

To person

Andreas Wagner is a meteorologist at ARD meteorological competence center in Frankfurt am Main.

tagesschau.de: How bad was the weekend?

Wagner: Well, by German standards it was a considerable winter storm with all its effects as we know them. Problems on the road, rail and in the air. In some cases, bus and train services were stopped, hundreds of connections failed, several stretches of the highway had to be closed due to icing and snow, roads were blocked due to freezing rain and fallen trees. In some counties, school is canceled due to the onset of winter.

In parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony to Saxony, 20 to 40 centimeters of snow fell, and there are currently a few more centimeters. In combination with the wind, snow accumulations occurred which also led to road blockages or closures.

I think that is surprising. Anyone who expected conditions like the blizzard of the century in 1978/79 was once again shocked by the tabloids. It is also possible that not much happened because people were warned in time by severe weather warnings from the German Weather Service. And also in all the weather broadcasts that we broadcast ARD-Meteorological Competition Center here in Frankfurt, this beginning of winter was noted in the middle of last week. Well, and then it was also the weekend when deep snow “Tristan” graced us, anyway there is less and almost no rush hour traffic.

tagesschau.de: What do you expect for the next few days?

Wagner: The situation in the area of ​​the North Coasts and the Baltic Sea will remain dangerous for the next 72 hours. This is where the so-called lake effect occurs. This occurs when very cold air sweeps over relatively warm seawater. The air can absorb a lot of moisture, temperature contrasts, and then form rain clouds, which can then bring heavy snowfall and sleet showers. These showers are usually arranged in lines in the northeast current and can bring heavy snowfall and drift snow in sections.

So I wouldn’t be surprised if there were also massive obstructions on the shores and in Schleswig-Holstein due to the lake effect. The wind chill is also surprising. That is the temperature you feel on bare skin. In most of Germany this is minus 12 to minus 18 degrees, in the mountains it is also minus 20 to minus 30 degrees. Frostbite or hypothermia can occur at such temperatures.

At the moment, “Gisela” has the reins in hand. So we have to do with arctic conditions across much of the country throughout the week. At night there are widespread severe frosts, in some areas even very severe frosts between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees. There, where the sky clears and there is snow, there are also valleys in some low mountain ranges below minus 20 degrees, but that is very limited.

During the day, temperatures do not usually exceed zero degrees and despite the occasional sun, the permafrost remains. At this point I would also like to make an urgent appeal: At the moment, no bodies of water should be entered. There is a risk to life because the ice sheet is generally not thick enough. In particular, you should not enter frozen canals and piers. Unfortunately, in every cold winter there are also accidents or even deaths because people, especially children and young people, underestimate the danger.

But the cold also has good effects: the flood situation will ease quickly next weekend, because more water is trapped by frost, which could otherwise flow into rivers.