At the weekend, wintry and at times unstable weather including snow is to be expected in large parts of Germany.

The snowfall decreases on Saturday night, but up to five centimeters of fresh snow are expected, especially in the mountains, as the German Weather Service (DWD) announced on Friday in Offenbach.

In addition, smoothness and isolated icy conditions are expected.

Sun and clouds alternate on Saturday, with the sun also shining longer in the west.

During the day it snows with highs between minus and plus four degrees.

In addition, there will be a strong, gusty wind blowing, especially in the eastern mountains and on the Baltic Sea, and snowdrifts are possible locally.

In the night to Sunday, the snowfall spreads to the entire eastern half, being heavy and long lasting in the low mountain range.

On the coast it sometimes mixes with rain.

The temperatures drop to minus one to minus ten degrees.

Again, ice and snowdrifts are possible.

On Sunday, snowfall will continue in some areas, but will gradually weaken and there will be widespread icy conditions.

In the north-east it rains lightly and only in the north-west does the sun appear.

Temperatures will rise to minus four degrees on the edge of the Alps and four degrees on Rügen.

In the night on Monday, the DWD expects the last snowfalls, especially in the west and south-west as well as in the east.

Temperatures will drop to between minus one and minus eight degrees and smoothness is expected.

An overview of the onset of winter in the federal states:

Accidents and impassable roads in Rhineland-Palatinate

Snowfall on Friday in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate led to numerous accidents on the roads and major traffic delays.

The police in Bitburg spoke of a "traffic chaos" in the Eifel in the evening.

The police headquarters in Mainz urgently advised to “stay at home and not start any journeys”.

Due to heavy snowfall, especially in the areas of Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach, Kirn, Stromberg and around Wörrstadt, neither side nor main roads are passable, the officials in Mainz said on Friday evening.

There are also significant obstructions and traffic jams on Autobahn 61.

Even the fire brigade and rescue service could not drive on the streets because of the high volume of traffic and heavy snowfall.

According to the police in Bitburg, 25 accidents were reported within a few hours from the afternoon.

A spokesman reported that vehicles were standing at right angles and had broken down, including on freeways, and the corresponding disabilities.

According to the police, a driver was slightly injured when he overturned his vehicle in the Bitburg driveway on Autobahn 60.

The sometimes heavy snowfall also caused problems and accidents in the area of ​​​​the Mayen police department.

On all roads in Adenau (Ahrweiler district) "there were significant traffic disruptions," said the officials.

The federal highway 412 near Kempenich was particularly affected, where trucks and several cars were stranded.

Near Honerath, a car left the road on a slippery road and overturned.

Two people were trapped in the car and suffered minor injuries.

A spokesman for the police headquarters in Trier also reported numerous accidents or temporarily blocked roads.

"We have a lot of body damage," he said.

The police in Kaiserslautern also reported weather-related accidents in their area.

Mostly it was left with sheet metal damage.

The police headquarters in Koblenz registered around 80 traffic accidents within a few hours on Friday afternoon.

However, it is still unclear whether all of them were due to the weather, said a spokesman.

It's getting wintry in Bavaria

If you leave the house for a walk or a bike ride in Bavaria at the weekend, you will usually encounter frosty temperatures and occasional snowfall.

There is usually a thick cloud cover over the Free State on Saturday and Sunday, as the German Weather Service (DWD) announced on Friday in Munich.

The temperatures on Saturday are expected to be minus two to plus four degrees.

In many regions there is also permafrost.

At night, snow falls from the east through the country and, at up to minus seven degrees, also makes the roads slippery.

It should be similarly fresh on Sunday with a maximum of two degrees above zero and snowfall moving west.