Dutch road authority urges people to work from home on Wednesday as heavy snow hits

Rijkswaterstaat advises people to work from home on Wednesday if they can and avoid driving. The morning commute is expected to see heavy snow, and increasing winds may lead to low visibility during the snow showers, the infrastructure agency warns. Additionally, nearly 200 flights were pre-emptively cancelled at Schiphol Airport on Wednesday ahead of the predicted winter weather.

Rijkswaterstaat predicts “a very heavy” morning commute because of the snow. The KNMI had earlier warned that snowfall will be particularly intense during the morning hours.

Temperatures are staying at or below freezing across the country, meaning that wet roads can freeze quickly and become especially slippery, even when it’s not actively snowing. In certain inland regions, wind chill could make nighttime temperatures feel like ‑5 to ‑10 °C, making road conditions even more hazardous.

Tuesday’s morning commute was relatively calm across much of the country. Many people seem to have decided to work from home voluntarily, according to the ANWB. Rijkswaterstaat anticipates a similar pattern on the roads on Tuesday evening, with around 1,500 workers deployed to keep them clear.

Rijkswaterstaat’s online overview shows that nearly 7 million kilos of salt were spread on Tuesday alone. Since last autumn, salt trucks and snowplows have covered over a million kilometers, the same data indicate.

Weeronline supports the advice to work from home, warning that snow and icy conditions on Wednesday make accidents and travel delays likely.

Meteorologists at Weeronline warn of blowing snow in the coastal regions, Flevoland, and Friesland, where snow combined with strong winds can reduce visibility and create snow drifts. A snowstorm may even occur on the Wadden Islands, defined as snowfall with an hourly average wind speed of force 8.

The weather has proven to be meddlesome for Schiphol Airport, the largest airport in the Netherlands and the second-largest by passenger volume in the European Union. Airlines operating at Schiphol already announced that 115 flights set to arrive at the Amsterdam-area airport on Wednesday will be cancelled. Another 81 departures, mostly in the morning hours, have also been scrapped.

The frequent need for snow removal and de-icing for departing aircraft has caused a “bottleneck” at Schiphol, according to European air traffic center Eurocontrol. Hundreds of flights going to and from the airport have been cancelled daily since Friday.