Warning issued for snow and ice on the roads from tonight through Sunday
Nearly half of the Netherlands was placed under a weather warning starting Friday night, and all of the country will be under an alert on Sunday morning for freezing temperatures and a chance of snow, causing low visibility and icy conditions on the roadways. Slippery roads during the day on Friday led to a fatal accident in Friesland, and another rollover crash in which two occupants were rescued from a waterway.
The first warning was issued for the provinces of Drenthe, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, and Overijssel beginning at 9 p.m. on Friday. “From tonight until Saturday morning, it may be slippery in localized areas in the north and east due to frozen-over wet roads,” Dutch meteorological office KNMI wrote. The Code Yellow warning is expected to expire at 10 a.m.
The whole of the country was placed under an advanced warning for predictions of up to five centimeters of snow expected to fall from late Saturday night through Sunday morning. “This will cause slippery conditions throughout the country. The snowfall will make roads slippery and visibility will be limited,” the KNMI said.
Many areas should get up to 3 centimeters of snow. “In a wide zone across the middle of the country, 3-5 centimeters may fall,” the KNMI warned. “On Sunday morning, the snow will turn into rain, first in the southwest, and also in the northeast in the early afternoon. The slippery conditions will then disappear again.”
The warning begins at 3 a.m. on Sunday in Limburg, Noord-Brabant and Zeeland, and will expire after six hours. The Code Yellow alert will be in effect from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, as well as Flevoland, Gelderland, Overijssel, Utrecht. The provinces of Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland and Groningen will be under the warning from 5 a.m., along with the Wadden Islands. The alert should be lifted everywhere by 1 p.m. on Sunday.
A 22-year-old lost his life after his car went off the road on the N356 between Feanwâlden en De Westereen in Friesland at 6:40 a.m. The man was from the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province. His car ended up in the water by the side of the road. Emergency services rushed to the scene but he had passed away by the time they got there.
Two cars went off the road on Thursday evening in the same area. Hale stones had ensured that the road was very slippery. In both cases, the drivers and passengers were able to escape the accident without injury.
Even one of the gritting trucks used by Rijkswaterstraat to grit the roads was struggling with the conditions. One of the trucks ended up in the ditch in Hulten, Brabant.
