Up to 8 cm of snow expected to fall overnight, Icy road warning issued
Snow and freezing temperatures were predicted to hit a large portion of the Netherlands late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. The snow will fall mainly in the south and east of the country, with up to 8 centimeters expected in parts of Limburg.
The province will be under an alert for wet snow and sleet as early as Wednesday evening. “Tonight it will snow in the south of Limburg, resulting in slippery roads. In the course of tonight and tomorrow morning, (wet) snow will also fall in Brabant and the south-east of Gelderland,” wrote Dutch meteorological office KNMI.
“This means there is a chance of delays on the road and on the railways. The slippery conditions will continue until Thursday afternoon.”
Anywhere from 3 to 8 centimeters of snow could fall on Limburg through Thursday morning. About 2 to 5 centimeters could fall in parts of Noord-Brabant and Gelderland. The snow system will move towards Germany by Thursday afternoon.
The minimum temperature will be around the freezing point during the overnight hours. There will be a moderate northwesterly wind along the coast, but little wind inland.
“Furthermore it will be partly cloudy with a few showers, especially in the coastal areas, sometimes with hail,” the KNMI said of the Thursday afternoon weather. “The maximum temperature in Limburg will be slightly above zero, elsewhere it will be around 5 degrees Celsius.
”By the end of the day, the moderate northwesterly wind will become “fairly strong” at the coast, with more showers expected in the evening. “Friday: still some wintry showers. After that a transition to calm and dry winter weather.” Overnight temperatures should be at, or well below zero.
Over 2 million kilograms of salt was spread on Dutch motorways and national roads between 7 p.m. on Tuesday and the end of Wednesday morning, with gritters driving across 30,500 kilometers of surface roads. So far, the trucks have dumped nearly 31.1 million kilograms of salt, with the drivers crossing about 418,000 kilometers of roads.
