Christmas is over, but the real winter weather is just beginning. The beginning of 2024 is bringing with it a chill to the bone, with rural temperatures as low as -11 degrees celsius expected in Germany this weekend.

Germany braces for chilly January temperatures

The robin redbreasts and reindeer may have flown out of the picture, but the real winter weather is only just beginning in Germany.

After a very wet Christmas period, which caused ongoing floods in Hamburg, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, the country is bracing for a blast of ice and flurry of snow arriving from Scandinavia.

On the morning of January 5, heavy rain will become snowfall in Schleswig-Holstein, with the weather moving south to Hamburg and Berlin as the week ends. Locals can expect temperatures of between 0 and -1C. Hail and sleet have also been forecast for the northern parts of the country this weekend.

Across most of Germany, the temperature will sit between three and minus eight degrees.

20 centimetres of snow forecast for Bavaria

As the weekend rolls on, the polar blast will move down to the southwest of the country, where it is expected to coat Bavaria in between 20 and 30 centimetres of snow. There will be similar scenes in Baden-Württemberg.

While snowfall will be concentrated in regions at higher altitudes as the icy weather crosses the country, more snow could arrive within the next few weeks, with low temperatures forecast to stick around for a while.

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