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WEATHER

Heatwave in Germany: Temperatures of 40C forecast

Extremely high temperatures will hit Germany this week as a heatwave begins.

Published: 24 June 2019 09:12 CEST
Heatwave in Germany: Temperatures of 40C forecast
The beach at Helenesee near Frankfurt Oder in Brandenburg was full on Sunday. Photo: DPA

Alerts have been issued over the heat which is likely to last until the end of the week.

On Monday, temperatures up to 33C were expected in some areas of western Germany, including North-Rhine Westphalia, while in the east, the mercury was due to reach the late 20s.

These graphics by the DWD show how the hot air will spread throughout Germany from Monday to Wednesday.

According to the German Weather Service (DWD), it will get progressively warmer, with the highest temperatures arriving mid-week.

READ ALSO: Eight signs summer has arrived in Germany

The heat is due to a weather front bringing warm air from Africa to central Europe.

Emma and Lotta, both two-years-old, eat ice lollies in Mülheim, North-Rhine Westphalia on Sunday. Photo: DPA

“The sun is able to shine almost uninterrupted, with a lot of warm air coming to us from Africa,” said meteorologist Sabine Krüger from the DWD.

Experts warn of risks

On Tuesday the  mercury will likely top 36C in areas like the Upper Rhine region, which includes parts of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse.

Wednesday will be even hotter, especially in the Rhine-Main area of western and central Germany. In the capital Berlin, highs of 37C are expected. In Düsseldorf, it will likely hit the 35C mark.

However, it “will reach 39C and, in some places, even the 40C mark could be cracked,” Krüger said. These temperatures are expected in places like Frankfurt in Hesse.

In fact, Wednesday will likely be the warmest day of the year so far, with a new record for June possible. The current record is 38.2C, which was recorded in 1947 in Frankfurt.

In view of the extreme temperatures, experts have warned people to take care and try and stay out of the hot sun.

In temperatures above 37C, the risks of heat stroke, exhaustion or circulatory failure become much higher. Senior citizens, babies, and people who are ill are particularly at risk.

Forecasters said the danger of summer storms, which have been lashing the country recently, is low this week because the air is very dry.

Residents in Wiesbaden enjoy the hot temperatures. Photo: DPA

Storms at the weekend

It comes after storms with heavy rain caused huge problems in parts of Bavaria at the weekend. Cellars and streets became flooded due to torrential rain. In the Schwaben-Nord area in Augsburg, rescue teams were called out 195 times, a police spokesman said.

In the Munich district, the fire brigade were called out 50 times to help pump out cellars and clear roads of water.

IN PICTURES: Giant hailstones hit Munich as storms continue in Germany

Operations at Munich Airport were suspended for more than an hour on Saturday evening, with a total of 23 flights cancelled, said a spokeswoman for the airport.

Organizers had to end a music festival in Munich early due to the weather, DPA reported.

Western Switzerland and parts of Italy were also hit by storms, and dozens of people were injured in hail showers.

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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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