Overview
- DWD alerts flag widespread risk from overfreezing moisture and freezing drizzle Monday night into Tuesday morning, with particular focus on northern, eastern and parts of NRW.
- Police report numerous incidents tied to ice, including at least 32 crashes in Saxony and multiple pedestrian falls after sudden blitzeis in Dresden’s historic center.
- Authorities and traffic-safety groups advise postponing non‑essential travel, tripling following distances, avoiding hard braking and not driving when roads are sheeted with ice.
- New Year’s period is expected to turn wet, windy and locally wintry, with rain or drizzle in lowlands, snow above roughly 400 meters and elevated glätte risk during a frosty Silvester night.
- Forecast models point to a possible early‑January snow and ice episode along a shifting air‑mass boundary, though meteorologists stress the timing, track and lowland impacts remain uncertain.