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WEATHER

Mini heatwave: Germany poised for soaring temperatures

Germany has been mainly wet and windy over the past weeks... but temperatures up to 30C are possible in the coming days.

Published: 27 May 2021 10:37 CEST
Mini heatwave: Germany poised for soaring temperatures
A woman enjoying the sun at Kochel am See in Bavaria on May 23rd. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Matthias Balk

A large bubble of warm air is making its way to central Europe next week, reported German media outlet Focus on Thursday.

And temperatures in the late 20s are forecast in Germany – with highs of 30C possible.

Average temperatures will rise by 5 to 10C early next week – a huge jump from the current weather which has been dominated by torrential rain showers and wind.

It’s not yet possible to make precise forecasts for individual cities or districts. But signs show that some regions will certainly get a blast of warmth.

Since the air is arriving from the west, the chances of warm to hot weather are highest in western Germany. On the Rhine, Main and Moselle rivers, residents can look forward to T-shirt and shorts weather.

Along the Rhine, the mercury could reach 30C locally as early as Wednesday. However, forecasters are still divided as to whether the highest temperatures will be logged on Wednesday or Thursday.

Weather: Storm to strike Germany over three day weekend

Still uncertain for east, north and south

So the west is going to be warm – and it is very probable that the rest of the country will also get a share of the hot air, although it’s not yet certain.

The further east you go, the later the warm air arrives. And in the next few days we’ll be able to see whether the hot summer temperatures will also reach the north. In the south, too, the thermometer could stay below 25C – at least that’s what some forecasts suggest.

The uncertainty in the forecasts is also fuelled by so-called outliers. For example, there are warm outliers that forecast 30C across Germany. But there are also cold outliers that predict barely 20C. The truth usually lies in between. And depending on which weather model is also used in the weather apps, the mercury jumps accordingly.

To be able to judge the weather situation, it’s always helpful to look at the overall big picture because that usually doesn’t change so much.

What we can see is a bubble of warm air forming over Spain and France, and moving to the east – therefore also to Germany. 

How far north the warm air will advance and how quickly it moves towards Germany remains to be seen.

But the summer air cannot be stopped. So next week at least some people in the Bundesrepublik will have to dig out their summer clothes and the sunscreen. Or go for a dip in an outdoor pool, many of which opened around Germany last week.

READ ALSO: Germans return to pools and beer gardens as some Covid measures are lifted

Vocabulary

Heatwave – (die) Hitzewelle

Warm bubble or air/warm air – (die) Warmluftblase

Outliers (die) Ausreißer (or singular der Ausreißer)

Average temperatures – (die) Durchschnittstemperaturen (or singular die Durchschnittstemperatur)

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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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