Winter struck with momentum we haven't seen in years. In the night and in the morning intense snowstorms flooded Małopolska, Silesia, Podkarpata and Podhale. In some places it has already fallen 20–30 cm of snow, and this is only the beginning – in some places it can arrive even half a meter of white down.
The most difficult situation is in the Tatras and Podhale. In Zakopane and the surrounding area lies already more than 30 cm of wet heavy snow. In Kasprowy Wierch, snow cover growth is over 25–30 cm per day. The roads are white, the cars are sliding, and the plows can't keep up with the snow. In the morning there were huge traffic jams in Zakopane – drivers stood even after a few hours.
IMGW issued second-degree warnings against intense snowfalls for voivodships:
- Silesian,
- Lesser Poland
- part of Podkarpackie,
- Saint Mary.
In the mountains and in the foothills, there are also alerts before winds and snowstorms. The RCB alert went to the inhabitants of the seven counties in Małopolska and Silesia – the phones cried out at 6am with a message: "Warning! Heavy snowfall. Limit travel".
The temperature across the country oscillates around zero or slightly below. In Podhale – 2°C, in Krakow and Katowice about 0–1°C, in the north 2–3°C. In addition, the wind - by the sea gusts up to 70–80 km/h, causing snow breezes and further decreasing the temperature felt to –8/–10°C.
It's not over. Synoptics predict that snowstorms will last at least until an early Saturday afternoon. The strongest will still get to the south and south east – there can fall a total of 30–50 cm of snow. On Sunday and Monday the precipitation will decrease, but there will come a sulfurous frost – at night even –10/–12°C, locally in the east and in the Sudetian cauldrons to –15°C.
Winter surprised not only drivers – road services are working non-stop, but traffic bans for truckers were introduced. Energy reports single failures due to heavy snow on the lines. GOPR and TOPR rescuers are on alert – there have already been several calls for snowed cars and people stuck in the snow.
Poland has just received the first massive blow of winter 2025/2026. And it looks like he's gonna stay longer.
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