The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) has issued a fresh yellow warning for slippery conditions for six regions in Belgium, which will come into effect from 18:30 on Thursday evening.
The alert follows a previous yellow ice and snow warning that was issued on Wednesday night, as wintery conditions caused extensive traffic and flight disruption on Thursday.
The latest yellow weather warning applies to Brussels, Walloon Brabant, Liège, Antwerp, Limburg and Flemish Brabant, from 18:30 on Thursday evening until 08:30 on Friday morning.
The RMI has said that ice patches could form across the centre and northeast of the country, due to the combination of still-wet road sections, temporarily calmer winds and a "significant cooling" linked to the return of clear spells.
The institute warned that slippery conditions are "dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists", and that as road traffic slows down conditions can also become dangerous for drivers.
Traffic and flight delays
As the first snow fell in Belgium on Wednesday night, commuters woke up to busy roads and delayed flights on Thursday morning.
Due to slippery road conditions, the Reyers-Meiser tunnel in the direction E40/Liège was closed to traffic on Thursday morning, but has since reopened.
Accidents reported on the E411 on the Hermann-Debroux bridge, and on Boulevard Louis Schmidt towards the A12 in Etterbeek also caused delays.
Latest traffic updates from Brussels Mobility can be found here.
The traffic jam kilometre barometer on the Touring site hit its peak at around 8:00 on Wednesday morning, as 465km of traffic jams had accumulated throughout the country.
At Charleroi Airport, around 40 flights were affected on Thursday morning due to wintery conditions, with delays still affecting a number of flights due to depart in the afternoon.
A spokesperson for Brussels Airport has also confirmed that the airport is experiencing flight delays due to winter weather conditions. They said that delays at Brussels Airport were caused by de-icing of the runway this morning, but that waiting times are now "reducing".
Brussels Airport has also flagged that as winter weather is expected to continue on Thursday night and into Friday morning, further flight delays "might occur".
Weather for the coming days
Weather conditions will generally be dry on Thursday, as clear spells expand from the north of the country, and temperatures will range from -1°C to 4°C.
This evening and for much of the night, the sky will be partly cloudy, and towards the end of the night, cloud cover will increase in the northwest and west, with a chance of some rain or sleet showers. Tonight, temperatures may dip to as low as -5°C in the High Fens, 0°C in central areas, and 4°C along the coast.
On Friday, the weather will remain quite cold with occasional wintry showers coming in from the North Sea. Temperatures will range from 0°C in the High Fens to 7°C along the coast. It is possible that there will be more snowfall in the Ardennes, and some icy patches may form on Friday night.
After a cold night and morning, Saturday is expected to start with clear spells. Cloud cover will increase quickly from the west, with light rain possible in the western parts of the country by the afternoon. Temperatures will vary between 2 and 7°C.
