The good news: The tram drives. On this early Friday morning, the M10 is surprisingly empty – and even on time. According to the timetable, all other trains after that should also come. Even the U5, which has been running irregularly in recent days, is running at the same time.
Nothing stands in the way of the way to the taz – if it weren’t for the icy sidewalks. A difficult, sometimes dangerous walk. Here and there the landlords have fulfilled their obligation to clear and spread grit, rarely with sand, but most of the time the wafer-thin layer of ice everywhere is simply super slippery this early in the morning. What is noticeable is that there are far fewer people on Berlin’s streets than on a normal Friday. Many older people also prefer to stay at home these days for fear of falling.
The use of de-icing salt on Berlin’s streets was banned again on Wednesday. The Berlin Administrative Court decided this in an expedited procedure after which the Nature Conservation Association Nabu had sued. The general order issued by the Senate Environmental Administration is therefore invalid. This allowed private individuals to use de-icing salt to remove ice and snow. The BSR city cleaning service, on the other hand, may continue to use de-icing salt in accordance with the exceptions provided for in the Street Cleaning Act.
The BSR continues to distribute free grit. Collection is possible at seven locations, as the BSR reports (The BSR offers assistance to private residents with grit): this Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and then again on Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. – but only while stocks last.
More uncomfortable winter weather
The uncomfortable winter weather doesn’t let Berlin and Brandenburg go. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), snow and rain combined with temperatures around freezing point continue to make the roads slippery. A new severe weather warning applies to large parts of Berlin and Brandenburg. The risk of black ice is only lower in the southernmost parts of the capital region.
The bad news: The weather will remain wet until the start of the new week. With slightly plus temperatures of up to four degrees, there will be a mix of snow, sleet and drizzle on Saturday and Sunday. According to the DWD, this can happen especially in the morning and at night overfreeze and lead to smoothness. Nevertheless, the situation is said to be slowly easing. In the new week it will be colder again, but also drier.
Not picked up
Berliners who wanted to escape the winter weather were unlucky. At the capital’s BER airport in Schönefeld, no aircraft were able to take off for the time being early on Friday morning – just in time for the end of the winter holidays. “Due to lightning ice and persistent freezing rain, take-offs and landings at BER are currently not possible,” said a spokeswoman for the airport. The airport company’s winter service treated the flight operations areas with de-icing agent throughout the night, but to no avail; they were as slippery as glass. It is currently unclear when flight operations can resume.
“To protect passengers and employees, flight operations have been temporarily suspended. Passengers are asked to check their flight status regularly before arrival,” the spokeswoman said. Due to lightning ice, take-offs and landings were not possible on Thursday evening.
As soon as operations resume, the airlines can usually decide whether the flight will take place today, be canceled or postponed, the spokeswoman explained. However, she left it open when operations would resume. “Passengers are asked to check their flight status.”
2,200 households without electricity
There was a power outage in north-east Berlin on Friday morning – which quickly brought up bad associations with many of those affected Day-long power outage in Berlin’s southwest due to sabotage. But this case is probably different and has probably already been resolved.
More and more cranes are wintering in the region; here in January on their sleeping place, a frozen moorland near Müncheberg
Photo:
IMAGO/Hohlfeld
“We currently have a disruption in Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg,” said a spokesman for the operator Stromnetz Berlin. Around 2,200 households and 135 commercial customers between Greifswalder Straße and Landsberger Allee are affected. According to the operator, the problem should be resolved by 8:30 a.m. The spokesman initially said nothing about the cause.
Cranes return to breeding grounds
Nevertheless, there is a delicate hint of spring in the air. Because the spring migration of the cranes has begun while we people in Berlin and Brandenburg are still shaking. Thousands of cranes are returning from their winter quarters. “At least 10,000 cranes are already on the move,” Nabu spokesman Helge May told the German Press Agency. There were sightings in Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Let’s see when the first animals arrive in our region.
There is currently no sign of a migration jam – in which the animals stop before continuing their flight to colder regions. “It is the beginning of the real spring migration to the breeding grounds,” said May. This means that in the next three to four weeks there will be a total of around around 400,000 cranes come back, especially from Spain and Portugal, but also from various parts of France. Cranes have not migrated as far as North Africa – over Western Europe – for several decades.
But fear is also on the rise: experts believe that after bird flu has subsided in Germany, the number of infections could soon pick up again. The reason is, among other things, the spring migration of migratory birds, said Timm Harder from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute near Greifswald. (with dpa)