Winter has Germany firmly in its grip

Pretty, but frosty: St. Paul's Church in the eastern German city of Halle (Saale) is covered in snow. Cold continental air, which has been causing freezing temperatures for days, is lingering, especially in northeastern and eastern Germany. The winter weather is expected to continue over the next few days.

A young man rides his e-scooter down an otherwise deserted, freshly snow-covered street in Stuttgart. The German Weather Service (DWD) continues to warn of black ice and traffic problems in the coming days — and especially at night. However, according to police and fire departments, the situation on the roads remained calm on Tuesday night.

Icicles hang from a lantern in Berlin. Tram services in the German capital had to be temporarily suspended on Tuesday due to overhead lines covered in ice. In the meantime, almost all trams are running again, at least on the main lines. Elsewhere, too, rail services were disrupted due to icy overhead lines and points.

The winter weather is also affecting shipping. For days, icebreakers have been battling a huge ice barrier at the Geesthacht Weir, breaking up the ice cover on the Elbe River into smaller icebergs. Nevertheless, the Elbe lock near Hamburg will remain closed until at least Thursday evening.

The frost has caused Lake Müritz in the Mecklenburg Lake District to freeze over. According to the Elbe Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA), Germany's largest inland lake is covered by a thick layer of ice across its entire surface for the first time in years; the ice at the edge of the lake is around 20 to 25 centimeters (around 8 to 10 inches) thick. The Müritz last froze over in 2021.

Ice sailors prepare their sleds on the frozen Kleine Müritz lake. When asked when it would be safe to walk on the ice, the shipping authority declined to comment to the news agency dpa. In general, however, walking on frozen lakes is "strongly discouraged." Thirty years ago, cars even drove on the frozen Müritz, but the ice is not thick enough for that at present.

Shivering in the Baltic Sea: People from Germany and Poland dressed up in costumes, taking pictures of themselves bathing in an ice hole on Usedom. Ice bathing is considered very healthy for the immune and cardiovascular systems — but beginners should start very slowly.

Frolicking in the snow on the Feldberg plateau. Still, despite the recent heavy snowfall, experts believe that winter in Germany has been far too dry so far: According to the German Drought Monitor, winter precipitation has only been 40% of normal levels. The cold weather is also contributing to the dry condition, as snow-covered and frozen ground cannot absorb precipitation well.

Frozen waterfalls in front of Ludwigslust Palace in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. "Winter has gotten off to an unfavorable start for the groundwater situation," Andreas Marx, head of the German Drought Monitor at the Helmholtz Center, told dpa. Because hardly any precipitation has seeped into the ground, groundwater levels in Germany are only now beginning to rise again.

Fog in the Neckar Valley: While the rest of the country remains covered in snow, moist and slightly milder air is reaching the west and southwest. People there will have to do without snow: Temperatures have remained mostly above freezing since Tuesday, with precipitation falling as rain in the lowlands.