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WEATHER

Mercury keeps rising, as temperatures set to hit scorching 37C

You'll need both your sun hat and your umbrella this week, since storms and temperatures of up to 37C are predicted.

Published: 19 June 2017 13:38 CEST
Mercury keeps rising, as temperatures set to hit scorching 37C
A woman drinks water, keeping hydrated in warm weather in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Photo: DPA

The German Weather Service (DWD) has indicated that due to high pressure, temperatures will increase this week.

Tuesday is expected to remain mostly rain free, although clouds will move from north to central Germany, possibly bringing short showers with them as well as a chance of localised thunderstorms. The sun will shine in a clear sky in the south before clouds form in the afternoon, bringing localised thunderstorms.

Maximum temperatures in the north will lie between 20C and 28C, or 18C by the sea. Elsewhere, temperatures will hit 27C to 35C, with the hottest regions being the upper Rhine and Palatinate.

DWD predictions for Tuesday. Source: DWD

Germany will experience similar weather again on Wednesday.

The north and northeast will lie under thicker cloud, but for the most part it will remain dry. Elsewhere it will be sunny, but in the course of the day clouds will develop in the south and individual, localised showers and thunderstorms are predicted.

Temperatures in the north are expected to cool to highs of 17C to 24C, but elsewhere they will be similar to the previous day at around 25C-34C, with the warmest temperatures in the high and upper Rhine regions.

Thursday will remains cloudy in north and east Germany, with showers and thunderstorms arriving. The south and west will see a pleasant start to the day, but clouds will appear later on, bringing thunderstorms with them.

In the north and east temperatures will lie between 19C and 24C under the clouds. However, the south and west will be much more summery, with highs between 27C and 35C, even hitting a sweltering 37C in areas of the southwest.

DWD predictions for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Source: DWD

Friday and Saturday will see changeable skies, so there will be storms and showers in places. On Friday the highs will be 24C in the north and 33C in the southwest. These temperatures will cool on Saturday with highs of 20C-29C. 

Following the weekend trend, Sunday will also be changeable. Rain is expected in north and central Germany. Individual showers and thunderstorms are expected in the south. Temperatures are to lie between 18C on the coast in the north, and 29C in the upper Rhine region. 

Between June 26th and 28th the weather is predicted to alternate between sun and cloud. The highest temperatures will lie between 18C and 28C. 

CLIMATE CRISIS

Record heat deaths and floods: How Germany is being hit by climate change

Germany was further confronted with extreme weather conditions and their consequences last year. With this summer likely to break records again, a new report shows the impact climate change is having.

Published: 22 April 2024 11:28 CEST
Record heat deaths and floods: How Germany is being hit by climate change

In 2023, more days of extremely high temperatures were recorded than at any time since records began, the European climate change service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) wrote in a joint report published on Monday. 

The records go back to 1940 and sometimes even further.

“2023 has been a complex and multifaceted year in terms of climate hazards in Europe,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Director Carlo Buontempo. “We have witnessed widespread flooding, but also extreme forest fires with high temperatures and severe droughts.” 

These events have put a strain on natural ecosystems, and have also challenged agriculture, water management and public health.

According to the report, around 1.6 million people were affected by floods last year, and more than half a million people were affected by storms. The weather- and climate-related damage is estimated at well over 10 billion euros. “Unfortunately, these numbers are unlikely to decrease in the near future,” Buontempo said, referring to ongoing human-caused climate change.

Heat turns deadly, even in Germany

Averaged across Europe, 11 months of above-average warmth were recorded last year, with September being the warmest since records began in 1940. 

A record number of days with so-called extreme heat stress, i.e. perceived temperatures of over 46C, was also registered. 

As a result of higher temperatures, the number of heat-related deaths has risen by an average of 30 percent over the past 20 years.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, at least 3,100 deaths in Germany were linked to heat in the first nine months of 2023.

“In some cases, for example heat stroke, heat exposure leads directly to death, while in most cases it is the combination of heat exposure and pre-existing conditions that leads to death,” RKI explained in a statement, adding that women tend to be affected more than men due to higher proportion of women in older age groups.

In Germany temperatures above 30C are considered a heatwave. As weather patterns change due to human-caused climate change, heat waves have increased in number and length.

READ ALSO: How German cities are adapting to rising temperatures

Historically Germany hasn’t faced so many severe heatwaves each year, and central air conditioning is not commonly found in the country. In cities across the Bundesrepublik, heat plans are being drafted and refined to try and prepare for further extreme heat events in the near future.

Delivery van stuck in flood

A delivery van stranded in flood water during a storm surge near the fish market in Hamburg last winter. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bodo Marks
 

Warming oceans and mountains and more rain

On average, the seas around Europe’s coasts were warmer than at any time since at least 1980. 

READ ALSO: Colder winters and refugees – How changing ocean currents could impact Germany

It was also much too warm on the glaciers in 2023. “After the record ice loss in 2022, it was another exceptional year of loss in the Alps,” Copernicus and WMO wrote. In these two years, the glaciers in the Alps lost around 10 percent of their volume.

Interestingly, the excess meltwater may be boosting hydroelectricity production in the short term. According to the report, conditions for the production of green electricity in 2023 were very favourable, with its share of the total electricity mix at 43 percent, the highest seen so far.

Overall, seven percent more rain fell last year than average. It was one of the wettest years on record, the report said. 

In one third of the river network in Europe, water volumes have been recorded that exceeded the flood threshold. There were severe floods in Italy and Greece, among other places, and parts of northern Germany were affected at the end of the year.

Hamburg and the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein were among regions hardest hit by floods in Germany last year. Northern sections of the Elbe river rose high enough to submerge Hamburg’s fish market several times among other places.

READ ALSO: Germany hit by floods as October heat turns into icy spell

2024 likely to continue breaking heat records

The recent report by Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization is in agreement with a UN report published last month, which noted that last year came at the end of “the warmest 10-year period on record” according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

“There is a high probability that 2024 will again break the record of 2023”, WMO climate monitoring chief Omar Baddour said, according to Science Alert.

Another year of record breaking high temperatures means Germany can likely expect more and longer heatwaves in the late spring, summer and early autumn seasons. Higher average temperatures are also correlated with an increase in extreme weather events like extreme storms and floods in parts of the country.

In drier parts of Europe it means an increase in droughts and wildfires.

With reporting by DPA.

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