Onset of winter in Hesse and in the north - accidents on slippery roads

A few days after the meteorological beginning of spring, a new onset of winter has caused slippery roads in parts of Germany. The police reported many accidents with several injuries on Wednesday night, especially in the north and in Hesse. For the most part, however, it remained with sheet metal damage.

A spokeswoman for the police headquarters in East Hesse reported in the morning on slippery accidents in the low double-digit range. There were no serious injuries. A car crashed into a bus on a country road near Neuhof in eastern Hesse. The driver was injured. Already on Tuesday evening there were more than 20 accidents in the north of the state due to snow.

Ice and snow have also hampered commuter traffic in Schleswig-Holstein. Several cars and trucks crashed in the areas around Flensburg and Kiel as well as Elsmhorn and Lübeck. Vehicles slipped into ditches.

The police called on drivers in several federal states to drive carefully and slowly according to the weather conditions. According to forecasts by the German Weather Service, there should be more snowfall on Wednesday, which will last until Thursday night.

"From the Eifel over the broad middle to southern Brandenburg, Saxony and northern Bavaria, at least temporarily, a thin snow cover will form in low-lying areas," the forecast said. Five to ten centimeters of fresh snow are possible, especially from central and northern Hesse eastwards, even at low altitudes.

For weather experts in Germany, March 1st was the meteorological start of spring: After that, spring lasts from March 1st to May 31st. The astronomical or calendar beginning of spring, on the other hand, is on March 20 this year. At this point, the sun is vertically above the equator and is now moving north. Snowfall in March or April is not uncommon. There had already been many slippery accidents on Tuesday.

It's not just in Germany that winter has arrived again. In Great Britain, meteorologists registered the coldest night of the year so far: in Kinbrace in northern Scotland, temperatures fell to minus 15.2 degrees Celsius. The weather agency Met Office warned of snow and ice in all parts of the country.

At Bristol Airport in western England, all flights were temporarily stopped on Wednesday due to heavy snowfall. The police called on motorists to refrain from non-essential travel due to dangerous road conditions. Many vehicles, especially in southern England, do not have winter tyres, and when winter sets in there are always numerous accidents.