2024-08-30 15:09:01
Not only are temperatures 2.2 degrees higher than in previous decades, the summer months are now much sunnier. The weather organization in Germany reported that strong changes are showing the weather.
The summer of 2024 is much hotter in Germany than before. This is reported by the German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach after initial evaluations of results from 2,000 measurement stations. At 18.5 degrees, the average temperature is 2.2 degrees above the value for the internationally valid reference period 1961 to 1990.
Compared to the present and the warm comparison period from 1991 to 2020 (17.6 degrees), the difference is 0.9 degrees. Overall, the summer of 2024 was not a new record summer, but it was the “28th warmest summer in a row,” as DWD reports.
The summer of 2024 was also characterized by strong changes: at the beginning it was unusually cool, only at the end it was hot. According to DWD, August ended “with the highest temperature deviation”. While local precipitation has been observed, the amount of sunshine is largely within the expected range.
At the beginning of summer “cold sheep” attack. The coldest it was on June 12th was in Meßstetten on the Swabian Alb: a temperature of 1.4. The highest summer temperature in the entire country this year was measured on August 13th: in Bad Neuahr-Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate it was 36.5 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature in August was reported by the Oberharz station on the Brocken-Stiege with 4.1 degrees on August 26th.
The south and east experienced the strongest summer heat: the hottest days were recorded in the plains and river valleys of southern Germany and Saxony. DWD names Waghäusel-Kirrlach near Karlsruhe and Dresden as example cities.
In contrast, not a single summer day is recorded on Heligoland – that is, a day with a maximum temperature of less than 25 degrees – and otherwise summer only lasts for a short time on the coast.
The rain was absolutely average. At 240 liters per square meter, the average rainfall is on a scale with both reference periods. “But these average values keep high regional differences,” emphasized the DWD scientists in their assessment: While they measured more than 600 liters in the Alpine regions, the regions in the northeast are very dry with less 150 liters.
What fell in the areas with little precipitation in three months was recorded by individual conditions in just a few hours: August was the wettest with more than 200 liters per square meter in Berchtesgadener Land, Chiemgau and locally in northern Hesse.
On August 1st, Trendelburg in northern Hesse reported 169.8 liters per square meter, while on the same day it rained only 114.9 liters in Nordhausen in Thuringia. Raubling-Pfraundorf in Upper Bavaria recorded 137 liters on June 3rd. In Dippoldiswalde-Reinberg, Saxony, 106.7 liters were measured on August 18th.
At 712 hours, the duration of the sun this summer exceeded its goal of 614 hours – compared to the period from 1961 to 1990 – by almost 15 percent. Compared to 1991 to 2020, the difference is nine percent. There are more than 800 hours of sunshine in parts of Saxony and Brandenburg, while less than 600 hours occur directly in the Alps.
If you look at August alone, the amount of sleep of 262 hours exceeds the target of 200 hours (period 1961 to 1990) by about 30 percent. Compared to 1991 to 2020 (212 hours), the positive difference is almost 25 percent. The Northeast and Southwest are the sunniest areas with 300 hours in some areas. In the Alps and in the north-west the sun is visible for 220 hours.
DWD meteorologist Marcus Beyer has previously pointed out that our perception of whether a summer is hot or cold has changed. What would have been perceived as incredibly warm between 1961 and 1990 doesn’t feel so hot today. But let’s think a few years into the future and think what the hypothetical scenario between 2021 and 2050 will look like as climate change progresses.”
dpa/sk
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