Heavy rain in places and near-or below freezing temperatures made for dangerous driving conditions across Germany on Monday morning, especially in western regions, with severe weather warnings in place over most of the country.
Schools were closed in several states, and road, rail and air traffic were all disrupted in places.
Traffic on several motorways in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate was moving extremely slowly during morning commuter hours, and in the Sauerland police reported some accidents.
At Frankfurt Airport, around 100 flights were cancelled in the morning due to snow and black ice.
On the railway, there were restrictions on regional trains in Lower Saxony and Hamburg due to the storm. In long-distance traffic, trains on some routes were moving at reduced speeds.
For large parts of Germany, the second-highest severe weather warning level for black ice was still in effect at around 10 am on Monday. In some regions, such as the Lower Rhine, for example, weather warnings have eased, but in others, like the city of Erfurt, conditions are expected to remain hazardous until 10 pm.
You are advised to avoid driving if possible. Road conditions in many places are said to pose "danger to life and limb".
To see the latest weather warnings for your region, you can select your district on this interactive map shared by Tagesschau.
School closures
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen schools will remain closed on Monday due to the risk of black ice. There are exceptions on the East Frisian Islands.
Numerous schools also remained closed in Hesse, Bavaria and other federal states.
But it is not a "school free" day. Instead affected students are expected to attend remote classes. "The students have to work," emphasized the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Education Dorothee Feller (CDU) on WDR.
Rain on ice
A warm storm front, which brought large amounts of rain in places and can lead to dangerous conditions when it falls on frozen ground, had passed over much of North Rhine-Westphalia during the night. In Cologne, Düsseldorf and Duisburg the heaviest rain fell around 3 am, according to the German Weather Service (DWD) around.
The rain band has since moved further east, dropping heavy precipitation in Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Hanover.
Further west, including cities such as Nuremberg and Munich, frost warnings were in place overnight and light snowfall was seen in the morning, which is expected to change to rainfall over the course of the day. Ice warnings remain in place across the states of Bavaria and Thuringia as well as parts of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
With reporting by DPA.
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