The Swedish Transport Administration is ready with, among other things, tracked vehicles, tow trucks at strategic locations and extra personnel, the authority writes in a press release.
"In the event of a weather warning, we work closely with our contractors and in anticipation of the upcoming weather, we have increased our preparedness," says Annika Canacki, head of department at the Swedish Transport Administration, in a comment.
Several accidents
A number of traffic accidents around the country have occurred, but there are no reports of serious injuries.
There have been a number of accidents now, including at Danderyd Hospital where a number of cars were involved, says Anna Lärk, the police's press spokesperson in Stockholm on Wednesday evening.
She says that near the accident site, some trucks are stuck on an uphill slope.
Several trucks also got stuck on an uphill section of the E16 between Hofors and Storvik in the afternoon, and the queues became long. Traffic was back on the road by 7:30 p.m.
Later in the evening, two trucks collided on the E4 northbound between Gävle and Söderhamn. The road is blocked and the Swedish Transport Administration is urging road users to choose an alternative route, local media reports.
Also on the E18/E20 motorway outside Örebro in the direction of Västerås, a number of trucks had problems with uphill slopes.
Failed to warn
SMHI failed to warn of the heavy snowfall that hit Örebro County. Tuesday's warnings in the county only applied to areas around Hjälmaren, reports SVT Örebro . It was not until 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning, when the snowfall was already underway, that the warning was expanded.
We had no indications of that in our forecast materials yesterday, neither during the day nor last night, says Therese Fougman at SMHI to SVT.
SMHI's yellow warnings for heavy snowfall apply during Wednesday evening and a few hours on Thursday for eastern Svealand and southeastern Norrland from Gävle to just north of Hudiksvall.
There is a patch of snow flurries moving in during the day. Locally there could be five to ten centimeters of snow, says Viktor Bergman, meteorologist at SMHI.
Wind can cause problems
From the evening, there is a warning of snowfall that can occasionally be heavy in almost all of Götaland. The warning applies to large parts of Jönköping, Kalmar and Blekinge counties but also extends into Skåne and Halland and is also valid during Thursday.
It can be difficult to navigate traffic due to snow-covered roads, traffic accidents or stationary vehicles.
It will be quite windy tomorrow (Thursday). Then this snow will be able to swirl a bit, maybe there will be snow drifts or poor visibility in connection with the snowfall as well, says Viktor Bergman.
