Warsaw traffic has been slowed by a winter-wonderland-like snowstorm, encouraging anticipation of a forecasted white Christmas.

The white morning seems to have caught metropolitan road services off guard, though Iwona Fryczynska, spokesperson for the capital city, says that 170 salt trucks have been trolling streets since 21:00 CET Wednesday evening.

“They return here to the warehouse to restock and go right back out again,” says Fryczynska, adding that “I just want to ask people to be reasonable. If it is snowing the whole time, one cannot expect the roads to be perfectly clear the whole time.”

Road service workers throughout the country claim that roads are passable, though it is necessary to be cautious.

“The least difficulties are in the Western Pomerania and Podlaskie [eastern Poland] regions. The worst roads are in the south of Poland where there are several thousand ploughs working to keep roads clear,” Jerzy Sledz from the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways told Polish Radio.

The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management reports that temperatures around the country range from -1 degrees Celsius in the south to -11 in the mountains, with winds up to 55 km/hr.

The ten-day forecast for Poland predicts more of the same, hopefully resulting in the much-anticipated white Christmas. (mmj)