Berlin could regularly receive temperatures as high as those in the Australian capital of Canberra in the future, new research by ETH Zurich has found.

By 2050 the maximum temperature in the warmest month in Berlin will likely increase by 6.1C, researchers say. That means the German capital will see a mean annual increase of 1.8C, making the climate most similar to current day Canberra.

The Aussie city, which lies between rolling hills next to a lake, gets very hot in the summer. The highest temperature ever measured was more than 42C. In winter, however, Canberra's cool, temperate climate can sometimes be accompanied by snow.

To illustrate their findings, the Crowther Lab in Switzerland created a global data map that pairs one city’s future climate conditions with current ones.

The researchers believe it will also get significantly warmer in other German cities.

The climate in Hamburg and Cologne could in future be similar to that of San Marino, while in Munich, the climate will feel more like Milan in about three decades time.

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Significant increase in temperatures by 2050

In the study published in the science journal Plos One, researchers led by Jean-François Bastin evaluated how the climate will develop in more than 520 large cities in 2050.

The research found that Madrid will have to adapt to a climate like that in Marrakech, and Stockholm will be as warm as Budapest. Meanwhile, London was slated to be as warm as Barcelona in the summer.

Around the world, cities that are currently in temperate or cold zones in the northern hemisphere will resemble places far away and much closer to the equator.

Droughts expected

In the tropics, temperature differences won't be as great as elsewhere. However, the climate crisis is more likely to be reflected in droughts and extreme precipitation. The researchers cannot predict exactly what this will mean for these cities. 

Furthermore, they found that megacities such as Jakarta, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur are probably facing far-reaching changes.

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All this has consequences for the infrastructure in cities, the researchers say, for which authorities are not yet prepared for. Water supplies, for example, will need to be re-thought.

As The Local reported earlier this week, Germany has been dealing with low water supplies in recent years due to dry summers. It's led authorities to look to places like California and China which have been grappling with drought conditions for a long time.

As water utility companies become aware of the challenges climate change will bring, higher costs for water could arise in future.