Code Red weather: Overnight freezing expected in north for at least two more nights
Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe are in the midst of a Code Red weather alarm for black ice, causing extremely treacherous conditions on the roads. The icy weather will persist in the north for at least two more days, with overnight freezing and daytime temperatures around zero.
Icy roads are also affecting Flevoland, Utrecht, and the Wadden Islands on Wednesday morning, with the KNMI issuing a code orange weather warning for them. That should lapse by noon.
The KNMI issued a code red alarm for the three northern provinces until at least 10:00 a.m. In the coming hours, there will still be some light rain, with temperatures just below freezing. That rain will freeze, causing the slippery conditions to persist, said NOS weatherman Marco Verhoef. But the intensity of the precipitation will decrease as the morning continues.
“The red alert is currently in place until 10:00 a.m. This is partly due to the fact that the layer of ice that has formed is not easy to remove. The temperature in the northeast will remain below freezing today or will rise only briefly. Removing the ice is therefore a difficult task; even if the red alert is lifted soon, the problems will not immediately disappear.”
The weather should dry up by the afternoon, and no precipitation is expected overnight. So while temperatures in the north will drop below zero again tonight, there should be no widespread freezing. “In places where gritting is not being carried out, it may be slippery, but it will be dry, and there will be no widespread slippery conditions,” Weeronline meteorologist Matthijs van der Linden said.
Thursday will be another icy day in the north. “Cloud fields will move across the country, but it will remain dry in most places,” Van der Linden said. There may be some rain or snow from the evening hours, and the KNMI warned that icy roads could occur again on Friday, but that is still uncertain.
For the rest of the country, the winter weather will be much less extreme in the coming days. The center and south of the country should get some sunshine on Wednesday and maximums up to 9 degrees Celsius, with no precipitation expected, according to the KNMI. And on Thursday, maximums will range between 4 and 7 degrees in the center and south.
The weather picture of cold in the north, with freezing overnight, and significantly milder in the south, will hold through the weekend. “Most of the time it will be cloudy with occasional rain, and occasional wintry precipitation in the north,” the KNMI said.
