Europe
First snow of season blankets US bases in Germany
Stars and Stripes
December 1, 2020
Airmen 1st Class David Camargo, 24, left, and Raylan Sherwood, 21, shovel snow outside their dormitory at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. It was the first snowfall of the season for military bases in the Kaiserslautern area. ( Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Airmen 1st Class David Camargo, 24, left, and Raylan Sherwood, 21, shovel snow outside their dormitory at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. It was the first snowfall of the season for military bases in the Kaiserslautern area. ( Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Sadie Webb scrapes the snow and ice off the windshield of her Chrysler Pacifica before heading to the post office at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Ferguson/Stars and Stripes)
An airman had time to make a snowman decked in a battle dress uniform cap and a face made of rocks on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, as base personnel and the schools had a two-hour reporting delay due to the area's first snowfall of the winter season. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
An F-4 Phantom static display on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is dusted with snow after was the first snowfall of the season for military bases in the Kaiserslautern area, Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Ferguson/Stars and Stripes)
Airman 1st Class Jonathan Pereboom finishes his snowman by the roundabout at Harmon and Lawn avenues on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dec. 1, 2020. Personnel and the schools had a two-hour reporting delay due to the area’s first snowfall of the winter season. (Brian Ferguson/Stars and Stripes)
A snow plow clears a sidewalk in the Ramstein Air Base, Germany, housing areas after the area received its first snowfall of the season, Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Ferguson/Stars and Stripes)
The first snowfall of the season for military bases in the Kaiserslautern area did not stop Christmas shoppers at the Base Exchange on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Ferguson/Stars and Stripes)
The first snowfall of the season in Rheinland-Pfalz, Hesse and other German states gave some Americans an extra two hours in the morning to get to school and work on U.S. military bases in the region.
With snow and freezing temperatures forecast overnight, U.S. military installations and Defense Department schools in Kaiserslautern, Wiesbaden, Baumholder and Stuttgart announced on Monday night a two-hour reporting delay Tuesday morning for personnel, staff and students.
Shoveling duties fell on some airmen at Ramstein Air Base. They were out early clearing sidewalks and common areas at their dormitories, including David Camargo, an airman first class who grew up near Phoenix, Ariz.
“It’s only about two inches,” he said. “This is probably like my third time seeing snow in my life.”
While the base had only a couple of inches, more snow tends to accumulate in villages to the south of Ramstein at higher elevations. Some bus routes for DOD schools on Ramstein, Baumholder and Vogelweh were canceled due to unsafe driving conditions. Students affected were to be given an excused absence, Ramstein officials said on Facebook.
Army bases in Grafenwoehr, Vilseck and Hohenfels also saw snow accumulate by Tuesday morning; the Ansbach and Katterbach area received more than 4 inches, said Andreas Friedrich, a German Meteorological Service spokesman.
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