A blanket of white snow descended on Belgium last night for the first time this autumn, as snow showers occurred in many places. The Met Office issued a code yellow weather warning for slippery conditions everywhere except in West Flanders.
Code yellow means that localised slippery conditions at ground level were expected. This could pose problems for pedestrians and cyclists. The warning ran until 9am on Thursday.
Across the country, weather conditions led to traffic jams this morning. A little after 8 o'clock, there were more than 450 kilometres of congestion on motorways and ring roads across Belgium.
Especially on the E40 motorway between Tienen (Flemish Brabant) and Brussels, there was a long tailback after an accident. Around 8 am, the waiting times in the traffic jam reached 1 hour. The road has since been cleared.
Also on the E411 between Namur and Brussels, in the direction of Brussels, at 8 am waiting times ran up to more than 1 hour. Due to an accident, the Hermann Debroux viaduct had to be closed.
Roads agency on winter alert
The roads agency, the AWV, has started providing its annual winter service. Flemish mobility minister Annick De Ridder (nationalist/N-VA) launched the winter service in Antwerp this morning. ‘Gritters and equipment used on cycle paths are ready to guarantee the safety of road users on motorways, regional roads and cycle paths,’ Ms De Ridder announced.
The roads agency stressed that there is enough road salt in stock for next winter. The agency and its partners will have a total of 103,000 tonnes of road salt at the ready. GMS, the so-called smoothness measurement system, is available on all gritting routes as is the gritting management system (SMS). The agency asks drivers to adapt their driving behaviour to the weather conditions.