Another warning issued for snow, icy roads in the Netherlands tonight and Saturday

Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians can expect the roads and sidewalks to become dangerously icy from Friday night through Saturday morning. Snow, freezing rain and black ice were a clear result on Thursday evening and the overnight hours, and a new warning issued by Dutch meteorological service KNMI calls for more of the same.

The freezing conditions on road surfaces was expected to clear up around 10 a.m. on Friday, and will likely begin to develop again in Limburg from about 6 p.m. This will gradually advance across most of the rest of the Netherlands. The Wadden Island region was the only area not named in the latest alert covering Friday evening, which will generally last through about 11 a.m. the following day.

“There is a chance of accidents due to slippery bridges, roads, cycle paths and footpaths,” the KNMI wrote. Daytime temperatures will largely hover around 5 degrees Celsius, except in the south of Limburg, where the mercury is unlikely to rise above 1 degree. Overnight temperatures will be below freezing just about everywhere except parts of Noord-Holland, falling as low as -2 degrees in Utrecht, -3 degrees in the east, and -4 degrees in Limburg and parts of Noord-Brabant.

“Throughout the country, you should be alert to dangerous driving conditions due to freezing wet road sections,” wrote infrastructure agency Rijkswaterstaat. “Adjust your driving style when you go on the road”

There were signs of icy roads and snow that remained on the ground all across the country, warned Dutch travel assocaition ANWB. This led to accidents on the A50 in various parts of Noord-Brabant on Friday morning, and other incidents the night before.

The fleet of gritter trucks dumped 5.1 million kilograms of salt on motorways and national roads between 7 p.m. on Thursday up through the relatively calm morning rush hour. Salt was spread across nearly 67,000 kilometers of roadways during that time. About 40.5 million kilograms of salt has been spread this season, with the fleet of 577 Rijkswaterstaat gritter trucks covering over 533,000 kilometers since October 1.

Outside of the main roads, the impact of the ice was mostly dependent on how the situation has been handled at a regional and municipal level. “It depends on a few factors. When was the last winter shower, and when was the last salt spread?” a spokesperson for ANWB told ANP. He said the road surface temperature also plays a role.

There remains a high chance that more warnings will be issued in the coming days, as well. “Quiet and mostly dry winter weather with a chance of fog, especially in the south,” the KNMI wrote about the weekend weather. “Quite cold at first with light to moderate frost inland at night and in the mornings, noticeably milder from Monday.”