Over the past few days, storms Klaus and Luis have caused turbulent weather in Germany. The astronomical start of spring is on the horizon this coming weekend, but things aren’t looking particularly spring-like. Instead, Germany should brace itself for another week of chilly temperatures - there’s even a spot of snow on the cards. 

Cold polar air holds back onset of spring

Most of us are probably looking forward to the onset of spring. But the German weather isn’t playing ball. After several days of storms and hurricane-like gusts of wind, the winter weather is continuing this week. 

While Alpine regions have already been given a heavy dusting of snow over the weekend, the snow line will continue to fall throughout the week - and by Thursday even those living at lower altitudes are in with a good chance of seeing some of the white stuff. “It won’t be anything like spring,” predicts weather expert Lars Dahlstrom from kachelmannwetter.com. 

The culprit for this latest cold snap is a bank of cold polar air travelling from Scandinavia. Over the next few days, it will rapidly bring temperatures in Germany down, with the maximum values hovering somewhere between 2 and 10 degrees. Night frosts and icy roads are possible in many areas. 

As snow line falls, Thursday holds best chance of snow

It will feel particularly wintry in Germany’s high-altitude regions. The German Weather Service (DWD) has issued a severe weather warning: “In the Alps over the next few days, repeated and sometimes heavy snowfall, probably lasting until Thursday.” Their meteorologists are predicting between 50 and 80 centimetres of snow, and in the Allgäu as much as a metre of fresh snow in places! 

In regions below 300 metres above sea level, the week won’t start with snow showers, but it will be cloudy and wet. In some areas, precipitation may fall as freezing rain or sleet, even at low altitudes, as the temperature drops to between 3 and 10 degrees on Tuesday and 2 and 9 degrees on Wednesday. 

Precipitation will increase as we head into Thursday, and the likelihood of it falling as sleet or snow on lower altitudes also increases. The high will be between 2 and 8 degrees during the day, and as low as -5 degrees at night. Winter’s not quite over yet!