More than 30 and even up to 40 centimetres of snow fell in the south of Belgium and Luxembourg last night, according to the weather service NoodweerBenelux.
The weather service received reports of 30-40 cm of snow in the areas above 600 metres, resulting in dangerous conditions on the road, weather reporter Nicolas Roose told Het Laatste Nieuws.
"The large amount of snow in such a short time has everything to do with a storm area that moved from France towards the Benelux," he said. "Weather models had predicted these winter showers over Belgium for a few days, which meant that significant snow could fall there as well."
Afgelopen #nacht viel er extra veel #sneeuw in de Hoge Venen. Boven 600m lokaal een dik pak sneeuw met 40 cm. Situaties op de weg zijn dan ook erg precair! Bekijk de (sneeuw)cams op onze website. https://t.co/pzYgJ35Sxo ? pic.twitter.com/XBZ3skTaMF
— NoodweerBenelux (@NoodweerBenelux) January 8, 2022
During the last 48 hours, the snow area was calculated more and more to the south, according to Roose. It was also a "compact and fairly intensive snow area," which meant that the snow volume could increase quickly.
Over the course of Saturday, NoodweerBenelux expects a new precipitation zone that will cause rain in Low and Central Belgium.
The temperature will also rise gradually during the day, which means that no snowfall will be possible in areas below 200m. In the Ardennes, however, some extra snow might fall today. Especially in Luxembourg and Liège, an extra layer of snow of 1 to 5 centimetres is possible.
"The precipitation zone mainly brings (melting) snow to areas above 200m," said Roose. "Everything that falls above 400m is probably new dry snowfall with further accumulation of the snow cover. The snow conditions are good because of the fresh snowfall."
After the weekend, the chances of snow decrease, but it may still freeze at night which could keep the snow cover intact for a few days, but it will gradually lose its quality.