Status: 12/14/2022 8:07 p.m
In the south of Germany there have been numerous accidents and traffic delays due to freezing rain and black ice. In Munich, air traffic came to a temporary standstill. Frosty winter weather is to be expected in the coming days.
The weather has brought dangers to many people who have been outdoors. According to the German Weather Service, there was a dangerous black ice situation between the Black Forest and the foothills of the Alps.
No planes could take off and land at Munich Airport in the afternoon. A spokesman for the airport said 150 flights had been canceled and 26 diverted. The closure of the two runways was lifted in the evening. Take-offs and landings are possible again, the spokesman said.
The northern of the two runways was usable again a little earlier, so that at least landings could take place. However, the aircraft would have to be de-iced before take-off, which could lead to delays in flight operations.
Regional trains stopped
The Deutsche Bahn had to temporarily suspend regional traffic between Munich and Buchloe due to the weather. Several regional trains stopped in the afternoon because of the black ice, some on the open route.
In addition, the municipal cemeteries in Munich remained closed today. “Mourning ceremonies and burials are carried out,” emphasized a city spokesman. Mourners would be picked up by cemetery staff at the respective main entrance, accompanied to the mourning hall and burial place and brought back to the exit.
In Lower Bavaria, the police reported 20 accidents with 5 injuries in the afternoon. The police also recorded several accidents due to slippery roads on Autobahn 9 in northern Upper Bavaria.
Numerous accidents in Baden-Württemberg
In Baden-Württemberg, disabilities occurred primarily in the southern Baden area. After numerous black ice accidents, the city of Freiburg has estimated the number of operations that the integrated control center has received since the morning at around 250. The city said there were mainly injured pedestrians and cyclists who fell on mirror-smooth roads. There were hardly any car accidents. The focus was in the city of Freiburg.
Around ten people were treated in a kind of makeshift hospital in a large exhibition hall in the city by the afternoon, it was said. 15 treatment places were set up there in order to relieve emergency rooms in the clinics, which are overburdened mainly due to black ice. The situation had relaxed significantly in the afternoon, a city spokesman said.
Due to mirror-smooth streets, Freiburg had also closed large parts of the Münsterplatz, which is popular with tourists, and the main shopping mile in the old town.
It stays icy
Frosty winter weather is to be expected in the coming days. Especially south of Stuttgart and Augsburg there could be dangerous black ice until Thursday, according to the German Weather Service (DWD). “Restrictions in rail and road traffic, including damage to infrastructure such as power lines and pylons, are possible,” said DWD meteorologist Robert Hausen. The situation eased over the course of Thursday as the precipitation subsided.
In the night of Friday, however, it should snow more heavily in the south and south-east, and sleet is also possible. The temperatures will therefore drop to zero to minus eight degrees. “The rest of the week it’s going to be wintry,” said Hausen. Severe frost below minus ten degrees is to be expected, especially at night with clear conditions and snow.