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Berlin (dpa) - After the heavy onset of winter in many regions of Germany at the weekend, extreme weather should continue on Monday.
The German Meteorological Service warned in the night of sometimes heavy snowfalls with mostly ten to 25 centimeters of fresh snow in the first half of the day in central Germany - Northeast Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony in particular should be affected.
In other federal states, too, people continue to face restrictions due to the onset of winter.
Problems were expected again for road and rail traffic.
"Snow and ice will affect DB's local and long-distance traffic in large parts of the country on Monday as well," said Deutsche Bahn.
Travelers were asked to «use the numerous information channels of the DB to find out about their connections before starting their journey».
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A heavy snowstorm caused traffic chaos in parts of Germany on Sunday.
In some places more than 30 centimeters of snow fell and there were meter-high drifts.
Police and fire brigade drove countless missions.
There were major restrictions on regional and long-distance rail services.
Bundesliga soccer games have been canceled.
The heavy onset of winter brought the clearance services to their limits in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example.
The police had to block highways as smooth as glass, there were hundreds of accidents, and trains were canceled due to iced overhead lines.
Cars got stuck in deep drifts of snow.
In Göttingen, the snowfall brought traffic on the A7 to an almost complete standstill.
On the night of Monday, trucks jammed on other motorways that could not move forward in the snow.
In Braunschweig, the fire brigade hid a tram car that had jumped off the rails due to the snow.
The wagon belonged to a special vehicle with a snow plow, with which the transport company was actually on the way to free rails from the snow masses, as a fire department spokesman said.
Rescue workers lifted the car, which weighed tons, back into the track with a truck crane.
According to the fire brigade, snow drifts with a height of up to 70 centimeters piled up in the Braunschweig urban area.
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In Duisburg the fire brigade had to move because five houses directly on the Rhine had been cut off from the outside world by the snowdrifts.
Clearance vehicles got stuck in the snowdrifts, some 1.50 meters high, the police said.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) advised those affected by the snow chaos in Germany to stay at home at the beginning of the week.
Scheuer said after a briefing on Sunday at «Bild live», one could not guarantee that the rail traffic would be up and running again on Monday.
Deep «Tristan» over Central Europe and the Central Mediterranean, in combination with high «Gisela» over Scandinavia, brings more icy air.
"After the snowy and windy weekend, the great cold is coming from the east," said meteorologist Simon Trippler from the DWD.
Snow must still be expected, but it does not fall as intensely as on the weekend.
On Tuesday, the snowfall will mostly subside, except on the coast.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210208-99-344030 / 2