Finally it turned white, snow fell, among others, in Western Pomerania, Pomerania, Silesia, Masovia and the Łódź region. Road conditions turned dangerous in moments. Winter is coming – frosts are waiting for us.
What makes some people happy today has caused a lot of problems for others.
– It was quite a hard night, it was windy and snowy, so today there was some work to do, shoveling snow – says one of our interlocutors. – No one was prepared for this rainfall, I didn't expect winter to come this year – admits another interlocutor.
– It's just started, so there's no point in saying it's bothersome, I like the snow there, I'm not complaining – says another interlocutor.
From Gdańsk, through Białystok, to Kraków
Frost, snowstorms and blizzards. Winter showed its first snowy claw. Many regions of Poland have become white. Since Saturday evening, it has been raining heaviest in the south of the country.
– The weather changed drastically during yesterday due to the low pressure that is moving through Scandinavia over Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus – says Piotr Mańczak, IMWM forecaster.
Due to this low, since Friday evening it has been raining the most in the south of the country. Frost, intensified by strong winds, also took its toll in the north. The wind was blowing at speeds of up to one hundred kilometers per hour.
– There was a storm when I was entering Szczecinek, it was terrible, it was the first time I saw something like that – says the driver.
Winter weather in Szczecinek. “The road is bad”TVN24
From Gdańsk, through Białystok, to Kraków – the first plows hit the roads in most of the country. – In the last 24 hours alone, 85 pieces of equipment, equipped with plows and sand spreaders, hit the streets of Gdańsk. 470 tons of salt alone were poured – says Patryk Rosiński, press spokesman for the Gdańsk Road and Greenery Authority.
– The work lasted all night, in fact we are still finishing here in some places – says Piotr Odorczuk, press spokesman for MPO Kraków.
Numerous collisions and accidents due to difficult conditions
Even though Friday's winter attack was predicted and the Government Center for Safety and IMWM issued warnings against it, difficult road conditions resulted in numerous collisions and accidents.
One person was injured as a result of a collision between a car and a sand plow in Wolany near Polanica-Zdrój in Lower Silesia. In Koszalin in Pomerania, strong gusts of wind caused a tree to fall on a moving car, the rear of which was hit by another vehicle. Firefighters had to evacuate the woman trapped in the car. She was taken to hospital with a spine injury.
READ ALSO: Even 15 degrees of frost. There are warnings
In southern Greater Poland, wet snow quickly turned into ice on the road. For a 25-year-old truck driver, an attack of winter ended with him slipping and falling off the road.
Level 1 weather alerts and warnings are in force from Friday evening until Sunday.
– We predict gradual warming, quite rapid, but for now the next night will be frosty. Negative temperatures throughout the country. In the south-east, even down to minus 10 degrees, and locally in the Podkarpacie valleys, temperatures drop to minus 15 degrees, says Piotr Mańczak.
It may be dangerous everywhere… The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management still warns against severe frost – throughout Poland.
Main photo source: Yaga