EM parties canceled

Severe weather warning: fan zones remain closed

The fan zones in North Rhine-Westphalia will remain closed.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Marijan Murat)

Due to the threat of severe thunderstorms, several fan zones for the European Football Championship in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin were closed on Tuesday as a precautionary measure. 

Severe thunderstorms may occur in a wide strip from the west to the center to the east. "There is a threat of severe thunderstorms across the center of the country, which will last from noon today until Wednesday morning," said meteorologist Marcel Schmid of the German Weather Service (DWD).

"Be particularly vigilant and careful, there is a risk of fallen trees and damage to buildings and vehicles," Schmid added in Offenbach. According to the weather service, the areas from Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia to central and eastern Germany will be particularly affected. Advance warnings of severe thunderstorms had already been issued for these regions, said Schmid. It is difficult to predict exactly where lightning, rain and storms will occur.

The weather situation comes in the middle of the home European Championships with many public viewing events. On Tuesday, the match between Turkey and Georgia was to be played in Dortmund and the match between Portugal and the Czech Republic in Leipzig. In Dortmund, the fan zone at Friedensplatz and the public viewing area at Westfalenpark were closed in advance. Up to 80,000 Turkish fans were expected in the city.

"Dortmund has been looking forward to and preparing for a big fan party with tens of thousands of Turkish and Georgian fans in the city," said Martin Sauer, Dortmund's representative for EURO 2024: "However, the safety of the fans in our city is our priority." The three other EURO host cities Cologne, Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen also closed their public fan and public viewing areas.

Berlin, with its fan zones at the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, also reacted. Due to the official storm warning issued by the German Weather Service, visitors were directed away from the grounds until 4 p.m., according to the organizer Kulturprojekte Berlin. In the fan zone at the Brandenburg Gate, no European Championship broadcast was planned anyway, but all matches can actually be seen at the Reichstag.

Warning of "hail as big as tennis balls"
"The first thunderstorms, which do not yet have the character of severe weather, are already occurring in the extreme southwest," said meteorologist Schmid in the video. It will "not affect everyone" in the area mentioned. "But there is an increased potential for so-called supercells to form." Supercells are thunderstorm cells with high energy. "These are accompanied by large hail, around five centimeters in size is possible, some of which are tennis balls or even larger". Heavy gusts and isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out either.

According to the forecast, the weather is not expected to calm down in parts of Germany on Wednesday either. Meteorologists are expecting heavy thunderstorms in central and partly southern Germany. For the time being, the weather will only calm down in the north and north-west, where, according to the DWD, at most a few showers are to be expected. On Wednesday, the German national team plays against Hungary in Stuttgart at the European Championships.

On Thursday, there will be lightning and thunder, especially in the west and southwest, sometimes heavy, according to the DWD. Elsewhere, however, the sun will shine. Friday will be different: when Austria meets Poland in Berlin, the whole of Germany will have to prepare for showers and sometimes heavy thunderstorms, while in the east and south-east it will be hot again with temperatures of up to 31 degrees.