Winter onset in Cologne: black ice and snow endanger the traffic!
Winter onset in Cologne: black ice and snow endanger the traffic!
in Cologne and the surrounding region has had a massive snowfall since Wednesday evening. So far, Cologne police have not reported any major traffic or accidents. The snow is expected to stop until Thursday morning and could melt in the afternoon, which could lead to black ice in the evening. The first snowflakes fell on Wednesday evening, followed by patterns.
meteorologists from the German Weather Service warn of possible traffic problems, especially on Thursday evening during rush hour traffic. North Rhine-Westphalia reached the first snow front late Wednesday, followed by another low pressure area on Thursday morning. The rainfall could be up to 10 cm in Rhineland, with more to be expected in the altitudes. Temperatures in the lowlands could reach up to 5 degrees, which quickly melt the snow cover there.
winter service well prepared
The Cologne waste management companies (AWB) have prepared well for the snowfall. The emergency services are well positioned with over 75 clearing and stray vehicles and a scattered warehouse of 6700 tons of salt, 190,000 liters of brine and 1500 tons of split. The operations are divided into three urgency levels, with the first stage comprising the clearing and scattering work on Rheinbrücken, main traffic streets and important cycle paths. The clearing work is carried out for a total of 1900 kilometers of main traffic. In addition, property owners are legally obliged to clear and spread sidewalks from their real estate. The AWB recommends the use of granular -like strays such as pebbles or grit, while salt should only be used in exceptional cases.
In the neighboring regions, other facilities also reported difficulties due to the winter weather. In the Eifel, for example, buses were temporarily discontinued due to smooth roads, and a joint bus came off the road. According to the WDR, there were several small accidents until Thursday morning, and Cologne-Bonn Airport had temporary problems on Wednesday evening, but can now report normal flight operations again. Cities and municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia were accordingly prepared for the onset of winter and the impending black ice, with winter service employees in readiness and maintained stray vehicles, as [WDR] reported.
observations show that the weather forecasts can often prove to be imprecise, which makes it difficult to plan the winter services. Current temperatures are monitored via numerous measurement stations on motorways in North Rhine -Westphalia and on bridges and dams, whereby many smaller municipalities do not yet have such street weather stations.
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