Name: Why is Berlin struggling to cope with cold weather conditions? | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-02-07T00:17:01.000Z
Duration: 5 min 38 s
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Flights in and out of Berlin's main airport remain suspended for a second consecutive day because of black ice covering the Runway.

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A spokeswoman said that the tarmac is as smooth as glass and that de icing agents were unsuccessful in clearing the ice overnight.

The German capital has seen weeks of sub zero temperatures.

Berlin's harsh winter weather is continuing to cause travel chaos.

The city's airport is struggling to keep snow and ice off the Runway.

It's bad news for travelers hoping to head off on holiday.

My flight was actually supposed to leave shortly before 7 today and now I'll probably fly in the afternoon and then continue tomorrow.

It's an outrage because of a little snow and ice.

The weather is proving disruptive in the rest of the German capital too, causing delays and cancellations on public transport and turning roads and pavements into a danger zone.

Hospitals say they are currently treating more patients with injuries from slipping on ice than at any other point in the last decade.

Wrist fractures, shoulder joint fractures, hip fractures.

But we also see more serious injuries such as head injuries, skull trauma.

The German weather service has advised people to stay indoors and avoid travelling by car as more snow is expected over the weekend.

And let's get more on the winter storm from our correspondent Matthew Moore.

So Matthew, with more snow expected over the weekend, are the delays expected to continue?

Well, officials at Berlin's only airport, the main airports here is, have told me that they're monitoring the situation very closely and they're optimistic that should temperatures rise today they will be able to begin flights, flight services again at the airport.

Now Sarah, the airport was expected today.

There are some 650 flights were expected to leave or land at the airport affecting obviously thousands of passengers.

And what the problem is they see is this, this, is this black ice.

They say they can deal with snow, they can deal with sub zero temperatures, but

really the problem that their ground staff have is that that rain is freezing, rain is landing on the runways and it's by the time they cleared it that builds up, this ice builds up again and it's simply too dangerous for flights to land and take off from that airport.

The German weather service has issued an extreme weather warning for the whole northeast of Germany.

We've seen wintry conditions really for the last month.

Hospitals here in Berlin have been inundated with patients and really at the moment that doesn't look like being any respite.

One would think though, Matthew, I mean that this is fairly typical winter weather for January especially, you know, where Berlin is in northern Europe.

Why has the German capital been struggling to cope?

It's, it's been a cold month, hasn't the coldest temperatures in 60 years.

Average temperatures here in the capital, minus 2 degrees, 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

And the problem has been, is that by the time that it's this mix of freezing cold temperatures, sudden snow showers, and

really the maintenance teams, street cleaning teams have been, have been working constantly, every day, really, to try to clear the streets and the roads.

And to a large extent, they've been successful and they are allowed, Sarah, to use salt to clear the roads, a little bit of salt.

But the big issue has been that the pavements and the walkways, as we heard in that report, of people slipping and falling and injuring themselves, and

that's led to people wondering why they can't, that at the moment they can't use salt to clear walkways and pathways.

So you would actually incur a €10,000 fine if you were to use salt to clear the space in front of your property in Berlin.

And in that fact, what happened was that the authorities here lifted that ban temporarily, but

an environmental group objected and they've won their objections.

So at the moment we're seeing this, this, this debate really come to light and also come to life there and really kind of raise the question, how can Germany and how can Berlin in this instance make sure that people can get through the winter safely?

We've seen lots of people slipping and falling.

I myself have fallen a couple of times, but

people ending up in hospital and even some senior people in this country from the Green Party saying this is absurd.

We need to put, we need to make sure that we're protecting elderly people rather than addressing environmental concerns.

In the city, in the capital, we have to leave it there, unfortunately.

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Why is Berlin struggling to cope with cold weather conditions? | DW News

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