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WEATHER

Germany gripped by third day of record cold

Germany marked record low temperatures for the third day in a row on Thursday, with meteorologists measuring a frosty -33.4 degrees Celsius (-28 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Bavarian Alps in the early morning hours.

Published: 8 January 2009 10:15 CET
Germany gripped by third day of record cold
Photo: DPA

The pitiless temperature was registered at 8 am in the Alpine town of Funtensee, weather service Meteomedia reported. Clear skies, dry air and little wind were the perfect combination of factors to beat out yesterday’s record of -27.7 degrees Celsius (-17.86 degrees Fahrenheit) in Dippoldiswalde in the eastern state of Saxony.

Funtensee reached Germany’s coldest-ever measured temperature on Christmas 2001, with -45.9 degrees Celsius (-50.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Click here for The Local’s winter photo gallery.

Other parts of Bavaria and the city of Weimar in the eastern state of Thuringia reported temperatures below -15 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning.

Police reported the second cold-related death on Thursday, saying a homeless woman had frozen to death overnight in her tent in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate where temperatures reached -16 degrees Celsius. The 58-year-old was not prepared for the cold, they said.

“The woman was covered with only a normal blanket,” a Trier police spokesperson said, adding that she and her 43-year-old companion had refused several offers from a hotel owner to put them up in a room for free.

Meanwhile the country’s second-largest body of water, the Müritz in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has frozen over.

“We have measured ice between four and 10 centimetres thick on the four upper Mecklenburg lakes,” Olaf Schatzki from the Water and Shipping Authority in Waren told news agency DPA, adding that the ice on the 117 square kilometre Müritz lake is too rough and thin for ice skating.

While the low temperature reports are enough to keep many Germans bundled up at home, the weather is expected warm to up after a several-day cold snap.

Click here for The Local’s weather forecast.

WEATHER

‘Turbo spring’: Germany to see temperatures above 25C

Germany is set for a blast of warm weather in the coming week as the colder spell eases off.

Published: 26 April 2024 16:56 CEST
'Turbo spring': Germany to see temperatures above 25C

“The late winter weather of the past few days with frost and snow is a thing of the past for the time being, and spring will kick into turbo gear over the next few days,” said meteorologist Adrian Leyser from the German Weather Service (DWD) on Friday.

Temperatures are expected to rise sharply over the weekend with plenty of sunshine, forecasters said. In Germany anything above 25C is classed as a summer day. “The summer mark of 25C will be cracked regionally as early as Sunday,” said Leyser.

It comes as snow and hail hit Germany last week, and temperatures fell below freezing in some places.

But showers and thunderstorms are still possible in the west and north of Germany. Maximum temperatures there are expected to reach around 20C. 

According to the DWD, spring will get a little damper on Monday, with a few rain spells.  “However, the next low pressure system over Western Europe is preparing to turn on the warm air jet again from Tuesday,” said the meteorologist.

On Wednesday – which is a public holiday across Germany for International Workers’ Day – temperatures could soar nearer 30C. 

“In the south and east, we are even approaching the 30C mark,” said Leyser. However, the weather will remain “susceptible to disruption”, said Leyser, especially in the west where there is a risk of isolated and sometimes severe thunderstorms.

READ ALSO: What to do on May 1st in Germany

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