Winter has struck with a force not seen in years. Overnight and early in the morning, intense snowstorms buried Lesser Poland (Małopolska), Silesia (Śląsk), Podkarpacie and Podhale. In some places 20–30 cm of snow has already fallen, and this is only the beginning – up to half a metre of white fluff may still come down in places.
The most difficult situation is in the Tatras and Podhale. In Zakopane and the surrounding area, well over 30 cm of wet, heavy snow already lies on the ground. On Kasprowy Wierch, the snow cover has grown by more than 25–30 cm within a single day. Roads are white, cars are sliding, and snowploughs cannot keep up with clearing them. In the morning, huge jams formed on the Zakopane road (Zakopianka) – drivers were stuck for several hours.
The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute (IMGW) has issued second-degree warnings for heavy snowfall for the following voivodeships:
- Silesian,
- Lesser Poland,
- part of Podkarpackie,
- Świętokrzyskie.
In the mountains and foothills, alerts for snowdrifts and blizzards are also in force. An alert from the Government Centre for Security (RCB) reached residents of seven counties in Lesser Poland and Silesia – phones went off at 6 a.m. with the message: „Warning! Intensive snowfall. Limit travel”.
Temperatures across the country hover around zero or slightly below. In Podhale it is –2°C, in Kraków and Katowice around 0–1°C, and in the north 2–3°C. On top of that, wind gusts on the coast reach 70–80 km/h, causing snowdrifts and lowering the wind chill temperature to –8/–10°C.
This is not the end. Meteorologists forecast that the snowstorms will continue until early afternoon on Saturday at the least. The south and southeast will still be hit hardest, where a total of 30–50 cm of snow may fall. On Sunday and Monday the snowfall will weaken, but a biting frost will arrive – at night down to –10/–12°C, and locally in the east and in the Sudeten basins down to –15°C.
Winter has caught out not only drivers – road services are working non-stop, but in some places traffic bans for lorries have been introduced. The power industry reports isolated outages caused by heavy snow on power lines. Mountain rescue teams GOPR and TOPR are on standby – several calls have already come in about buried cars and people stranded in snowdrifts.
Poland has just taken the first powerful blow of the 2025/2026 winter. And it looks like it intends to stay for a while.
Source:
