Weather: early winter – freezing rain in NRW – heavy snows hit southern Lower Saxony

Status: 1:28 am | Reading time: 3 minutes

In parts of North Rhine-Westphalia had a dangerous Saturday night hail used. At first, there were only very small hailstones, said a meteorologist with the German Meteorological Service in Essen on Saturday night. In Siegerland alone, meteorological experts estimated the risk to be very high and warned of widespread black ice.

From Siegerland, the freezing rain spreads at night in a wide swath over Wuppertal and Düsseldorf to the Dutch border. In this area, at least locally, slippery surfaces can be expected, the weather service said.

It could get much more critical over the course of the night further north on NRW. For the region from the Lippe district through Bielefeld and Paderborn to Münster and Unna, the meteorological service warned of heavy snowfall from 9 pm and extremely heavy snowdrifts from midnight.

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Due to the expected strong start of winter, the railway was organized according to its own information in Münster and several other cities. Accommodation options for stranded travelers. This will prepare you if customers can no longer reach their destination by train due to extreme weather, a spokeswoman said Saturday evening. The service personnel at the stations have also been reinforced. Also, they want to help travelers with taxi coupons so they possibly get to their destination after all.

Before departing, travelers should definitely find out if their train is running, either on the internet, on the train app or on the specially configured hotline 08000/996633. The railway had already warned in advance that the expected start of winter could lead to restrictions on rail traffic. People should adhere to the German Weather Service’s warning and stay home if possible, a spokeswoman said.

Heavy snow hits southern Lower Saxony

In southern Lower Saxony, around Göttingen, the expected heaviest snowfall began on Saturday night. “It is snowing slowly,” a Göttingen motorway police spokesman said at around 10:30 pm.

the Traffic management center in Hannover issued to 10 pm a warning for the whole of Lower Saxony. There is danger of that Slippery roads, slippery snow, snowfall and drifting snow. This also applies to motorways. Drivers must drive with special care.

The German Weather Service (DWD) spoke of an “extraordinary start to winter.”

“The motorway maintenance depots are really challenged,” a Göttingen motorway police spokesman said of the nighttime situation on the A7 motorway. There is little traffic on the road. But the strong wind immediately creates snowdrifts. At Laubacher Berg, the steep slope at the beginning of the Kassel Mountains, a dangerous goods hauler got stuck.

In Deutsche Bahn regional traffic around Hannover Main Station, train cancellations increased from midnight. The DB had already canceled several long-distance connections in northern Germany as a precautionary measure, including the Intercitys from Bremen to Norddeich Mole. By contrast, regional rail operator Metronom in Lower Saxony assumed it could use its routes on Sunday morning.

The temperature in Lower Saxony should drop to four to eight degrees of frost on Sunday night. A temperature of minus seven degrees was expected for the day.

Slippery road accidents

Heavy snowfall resulted in Thuringia in many places too Slippery road accidents. It was mainly with damage to the sheet metal, it was said Saturday night from the situation center of the state police headquarters. A total of more than 70 accidents were reported between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Some trucks were parked on the other side of the Autobahn, for example on Autobahn 4 near Erfurt. In the Hildburghausen district, a car crashed between Rappelsdorf and Zollbrück in the early afternoon. According to the information, four inmates were seriously injured. The damage was estimated at 15,000 euros.