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WEATHER

Temperatures as low as -10C hit southern Germany as country gets colder

Germany has been met with wet and cloudy weather, with snow in the south, particularly at higher altitudes. Here's what the rest of the week holds.

Published: 14 November 2019 12:16 CET
Temperatures as low as -10C hit southern Germany as country gets colder
Pumpkins in Marktoberdorf, Bavaria covered in snow on Wednesday. Photo: DPA

“The weather remains dingy and uncomfortable in many places this week,” Rainer Buchhop, MeteoGroup weather expert, told t-online.de. 

On Thursday, stormy weather is expected throughout much of south Germany. In the morning winds of up to 75 kilometres per hour struck the southern areas of Oberallgäu, Garmisch-Partenkirchen und Berchtesgadener, leading the German Weather Service (DWD) to issue a storm warning level 2 (orange). 

READ ALSO: Warning over icy roads and storms as Germany gets first taste of winter

In many places – such as Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps, where the Mercury dropped to -10C on Wednesday night – there will be icy surfaces, said  Buchhop. 

In the west and southwest, cloudy weather is expected throughout the day. Around the Danube river, temperatures are slated to stay around 4C. In Berlin and Bremen the Mercury shows 8C, and in Düsseldorf 7C.  

Frost is expected to completely cover the rest of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg on Thursday, according to DWD. 

Frosty weather is also expected in parts of the western state of Hesse, particularly in Fulda. 

This map shows snow and fog around the country, with red representing fog density.

A cloudy and wet Friday

Friday will be particularly uncomfortable in Germany’s southern Alps, with strong wind striking at higher altitudes. 

But gusts and hurricanes can also occur in the valleys as the day progresses. 

Throughout the country it will become cloudy and wet, with especially heavy rain falling in the south and along the coasts.

In the east, temperatures are expected to climb to the double digits: in Görlitz up to 13C, and in southeast Passau up to 10C. 

But temperatures will drop significantly in western Germany: In Emmerich in North Rhine-Westphalia the Mercury shows 5C, and in Stuttgart 6C. 

Sunny Saturday and chillier Sunday

Saturday morning is slated to start with pouring rain in the north, though the downpour will slowly simmer down as the day goes on. 

In the calmer south, dense clouds will cover the sky, but the weather should remain mostly dry. 

Central Germany will have the most pleasant weather, with the sun coming out for most of the day. 

Still, temperatures will stay cold throughout the country. In Munich the Mercury show 4C, in northern Schleswig 6C. Dresden can expect 9C, while in western Neuss they will be 7C. 

St. Englmar in the Bavarian Forest on Wednesday. Photo: DPA

On Sunday the weather remains unpleasant, said Buchhop, with “snowy rain” expected around the country.

However, it is not yet possible to say exactly in which regions this will be the case. 

“There are too many lows on the way at the moment,” said the meteorologist. In Lusatia in the east the thermometer shows 12C, and in Hamburg 8C. In western Germany Trier and Freiburg are expecting chilly temperatures of around 5C.

However the weather will calm down a bit the following week. Although it will remain cloudy in the west, there won’t be as much rainfall as the previous days, with showers only hitting the coasts, according to DWD.

In Frankfurt an der Oder the thermometer shows 11C, and in Hamburg 8C. In Stuttgart and the Ruhr area 6C is expected.

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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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