Weather: onset of winter - freezing rain begins in North Rhine-Westphalia

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In parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, a dangerous

set in

on Saturday evening

.

At first there were only very small hailstones, said a meteorologist from the German Weather Service in Essen on Saturday evening.

Only in Siegerland did the weather experts estimate the risk to be very high and warned of widespread black ice.

From Siegerland, the freezing rain stretches at night in a wide strip over Wuppertal and Düsseldorf to the Dutch border.

In this area, at least locally, slippery surfaces can be expected, said the weather service.

It could become much more critical in the course of the night further north in NRW.

For the region from the Lippe district via Bielefeld and Paderborn to Münster and Unna, the weather service warned of heavy snowfall from 9 p.m. and of extremely heavy snowdrifts from midnight.

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Because of the expected heavy onset of winter, the railway organized according to its own information in Münster and several other cities

for stranded travelers.

This will prepare you if customers can no longer reach their destination by train because of the extreme weather, said a spokeswoman on Saturday evening.

The service staff at the stations has also been strengthened.

In addition, they want to help travelers with taxi vouchers to possibly reach their destination after all.

In any case, travelers should find out whether their train is running before departure - either on the Internet, in the train app or by calling the specially set up hotline 08000/996633.

The railway had already warned in advance that the expected onset of winter could lead to restrictions in rail traffic.

People should adhere to the warning from the German Weather Service and stay at home if possible, said a spokeswoman.