Code red is in force in Drenthe until at least 12 noon due to the dangerous conditions on the road. According to RTV Drenthe weatherman Hans Nienhuis, it may take some time until the problems are gone. “It is ugly slippery, it still has to melt away and that will take some time.”
“First the air temperature must rise above zero, then the ground temperature as well. Then you must give the ice a chance to melt away. The slippery conditions may therefore continue locally until the afternoon,” says Nienhuis.
This morning Nienhuis mainly keeps track of the ice thickness of the holes that he receives from observers. “And that thickness is only a few millimeters, so the icy layer is not really that big of a deal. But it is well stuck to the road.” That is why it will take some time until conditions are safe enough to go on the road again.
He continues: “Cold air has the property that it is difficult to dissipate, it remains stuck to the ground. The weather models often underestimate this. If they say: it should thaw around ten o’clock, then you can usually add an hour or two.”
The province of Drenthe is working hard to salt the provincial roads and cycle paths. 29 gritters are currently trying to make Drenthe’s roads passable again. “We started spreading at eleven o’clock last night, and we have been working ever since. Naturally, we adapt our speed to the circumstances, so it may well be that a spreader drives very slowly in certain places,” says Eelco Tukker, slipperiness coordinator at the province.
He does see that people are responding en masse to the call not to go on the road. “There is not much traffic on the road. There have been slides here and there, at the moment there are about seven.” Part of the N34 was closed for a short time last night, but all provincial roads are currently open, Tukker reports.
Tukker does not want to venture a prediction as to whether code red will be extended again. “All roads are still below zero at the moment, so it will remain slippery. I hope that the sun will soon break through and that the roads will warm up a bit. It depends on that.”
