This is the first time I can remember, that the university is recommending to not hold lectures and go home early. They are expecting the ministerials to formally close the university, like they did with schools at noon.

This will be the strongest storm we've had in years, apparently (well, others have been similarly strong I think, but not as big).

It's now 15:18, and when I look out of the window it's still surprisingly quiet. The trees are moving, but only slightly. But it's the wind protected side of the building.

The university warning email said that they expect public transport - and Munich has a huge public transport system - to stop service at 18:00 "the latest".

Guess I won't be able to go dancing tonight then. It would start at 19:00, and I need about 30-40 Minutes by subway to go there. I guess they will shut down subway to make sure noone gets stuck in the tunnels if there is a power loss. Such huge storms are a threat to power supply.

[Update: 21:08 you can tell now it's a storm, but it's not bad here. But all train traffic is stopped in bavaria, grounding a few hundred people who didn't make it home in time. They've been taken care of. In Munich, busses and the subway are supposedly still in service.

I went to go dancing, but there was a note on the door it's closed tonight; same for the karate training of a friend. From what I heard in the radio there were only few fatalities so far and limited damage, but we havn't reached the peak of the hurricane yet. Few reports of blackouts in some small towns. Schools remain closed tomorrow.]

[Update: 19. Jan, noon - trains apparently still aren't back to schedule everywhere, but the system is recovering. Not many major damages reported in the media and not many fatalities. It's still windy. IMHO it was "typically german" how we handled the hurricane, urging people to stay at home and not risk much...]