Frankfurt Airport cut around 570 flights, roughly half of its passenger services, on Wednesday amid severe snow and ice warnings for western and southern Germany in particular. 

To the south at Munich International Airport in Bavaria, 254 flights, more than a third of those scheduled for the day, had already been called off early on Wednesday morning. 

Meanwhile, the smaller hub servicing Saarbrücken, near Germany's western border to France, closed its doors altogether for the day. 

Severe snow and ice warnings for much of west and south

The city of Saarbrücken woke to some of the earliest effects of the freezing and wet weather, as freezing rain rendered parts of the city center practically impassable for pedestrians and motorists alike early on Wednesday. 

Police in the small state of the Saarland around Saarbrücken said that by lunchtime they had registered around 100 road traffic incidents in the bad weather, including a few in which people sustained injuries, but none of them severe.

The German Weather Service (DWD) issued its second most severe cold weather warning for all the southern half of Germany, and its highest possible alert level for a spit of land around Saarbrücken on the French border.

"[Inbound] from the southwest and south [are] partly extreme weather conditions. Notable snowfalls will persist through Thursday in places," the DWD's national weather warning summary read. 

"While areas north of the [River] Main ... will receive an orderly smattering of snow, in the south ... sometimes powerful freezing rain will fall," the weather summary said. "Unnecessary car journeys should definitely be avoided in these areas." 

Gritting services had been out in force overnight across the country trying to prepare the road network for the chilly day ahead. 

The fire department for Nuremberg in Bavaria used a common local saying urging caution to greet followers on social media, noting that several schools in the area had called off classes and advising people to check local authorities' websites for more information. 

Weather forecasts currently predict a return to more normal conditions by Thursday with the DWD weather service saying that by the weekend "we can look forward to widespread cold, wintery weather with sunshine."

msh/lo (AP, dpa, Reuters)

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