Two weeks before the end of the year the average temperature is at about 9.8 degrees Celsius (49.64 Fahrenheit) and therefore 1.7 °C (35.06 °F) above average, the DWD said on Tuesday. “That is a clear indicator for climate change,” DWD meteorologist Gerhard Lux told news agency DDP.

Unsettled German summer weather prevented 2008 from beating the century record from 2000, which averaged 9.9 °C. “We didn’t really have the summer of the century and a pretty cool September, otherwise we might have been able to break the record,” Lux said. Unless the temperatures drop dramatically, 2008 eight will be probably be somewhere between the fourth and seventh warmest year since records begun in 1901.

But even though 2008 won’t break temperature records, the DWD was still able to count a sensational 35 summer days on average. The year was drier and sunnier than average too, he said.

While big storms Emma and Kirsten swept across the country in March, reaching top speeds of 233 kilometres per hour, claiming several live with hail, thunderstorms, and even tornados, they were not out of the ordinary.

As the year draws to a close with the holiday, Lux said Germany would probably not have a white Christmas. High-pressure conditions will mean that the weather on Christmas Eve will stay mostly dry, he said.

Click here for The Local’s weather forecast.