Photo Gallery Wintry Weather Mars German Spring

It's springtime in Germany as far as calendars are concerned, but it certainly doesn't look like it outside. In recent days, large parts of the country have been blanketed in snow, and forecasts say the weather will remain nasty for days to come.
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It's springtime in Germany as far as calendars are concerned, but it certainly doesn't look like it outside. In recent days, large parts of the country have been blanketed in snow, and forecasts say the weather will remain nasty for days to come. Here, a woman in Berlin gazes longingly at a vacation advertisement on March 20, the first calendric day of spring.

Foto: Wolfram Steinberg/ dpa
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This plucky Berlin resident doesn't appear to be enjoying his morning commute on March 21.

Foto: Kay Nietfeld/ dpa
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Some 27 centimeters (11 inches) of snow, a record for the month of March, fell in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on March 20. Snow plows in the state, shown here, struggled to keep up.

Foto: Stefan Sauer/ dpa
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In Hamburg, preparations for a spring fair were marred by snowfall too.

Foto: Angelika Warmuth/ dpa
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In the eastern state of Thuringia, one resident garden gnome was apparently so fed up with the long winter that he decided to protest. "Where is spring?" his placard reads.

Foto: dapd
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Many Germans have made travel plans for the long Easter weekend, coming up at the end March. But some are worried that their plans could be ruined by the ongoing wintry weather. Here, a man walks through snow in the Hessian city of Willingen, past a sandwich board advertising baked goods for Easter.

Foto: Uwe Zucchi/ dpa
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A freight train in Berlin battles its way through snow in Berlin on March 19.

Foto: dapd
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A woman in Berlin's Wilmersdorf district walks through a snowy park on March 20. Up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) of snow were expected to fall in the city before the weekend.

Foto: Kay Nietfeld/ dpa
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This winter in Germany has been the darkest on record, with very little sunshine. It is also starting to feel like the longest winter on record, with wintry weather possibly expected until the end of March. Here, a hardy Berliner takes in the gray at the city's Tiergarten park on March 19.

Foto: Markus Schreiber/ AP/dpa
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Things were looking decidedly rougher on the icy Sassnitz jetty on the northern German island of Rügen, where waves from the Baltic Sea crashed over the beacon on March 19.

Foto: Stefan Sauer/ dpa
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Even the storks in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, shown here at a bird park, are looking a bit disgruntled by the weather.

Foto: Bernd Wüstneck/ dpa
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Snow falls over the Edersee lake in the central state of Hesse in this image from March 20 -- the first official day of spring.

Foto: Uwe Zucchi/ dpa
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A man and his dog weathered the cold for a walk along the Baltic Sea coast near Kiel on the same day.

Foto: Sven Hoppe/ dpa
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While wintry episodes aren't uncommon in March, even meteorologists seem stunned by the persistence of the current weather pattern, a cold front from Scandinavia. "It's unusual for it to stick around so long," said meteorologist Fabian Ruhnau of the weather portal Meteomedia on Wednesday. Here, a man makes his way through the snow in Berlin on March 19.

Foto: dapd