Overview
- A brief milder spell this weekend gives way to a steady cooldown next week, with the DWD forecasting widespread frost and issuing frost and icy‑road alerts for parts of North Rhine‑Westphalia overnight into Sunday.
- High pressure and inversions bring more fog and low cloud, with daytime highs slipping toward 0–6 °C in many areas and clearer nights turning markedly colder, locally near −10 °C in Southeast Bavaria early next week.
- Multiple model suites, including ECMWF and ICON, increasingly simulate a Scandinavian or eastern high and a disturbed polar vortex that could lock in a colder pattern late in the month.
- Forecasts consistently show a sharper freeze in eastern and southeastern regions with a risk of persistent frost, while western and southwestern areas likely stay relatively less cold.
- Meteorologists discuss the possibility of severe night lows around −15 °C in some scenarios and note that the expected air mass looks dry, limiting widespread snow; the ADAC warns that freeze–thaw cycles could damage road surfaces and increase pothole hazards.