Weather in Germany
Record temperatures and rainfall in 2024 caused catastrophic flooding in many parts of Germany
2024’s unusually high average temperatures and record rainfalls resulted in flooding and caused thunderstorms and gustnadoes (photo)
Record temperatures and rainfall in 2024 caused catastrophic flooding in many parts of Germany
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January 2025: 2024 was the warmest in Germany since records began in 1881. It was also significantly wetter than usual. According to the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst DWD), the average temperature between January and December 2024 was 10.9 degrees. That was 2.7 degrees more than the average from 1961 to 1990 and 1.6 degrees more than from 1991 to 2020.
According to evaluations by the DWD, some 903 litres per square metre of precipitation fell across the country in 2024. This is around 110 litres more than the average for the years 1961 to 2020, while the sun shone slightly less than usual at 1,507 hours.
Uwe Kirsche, DWD press spokesperson, said: “What is particularly alarming is that 2024 exceeded the previous year by an extraordinary 0.3 degrees. This is accelerated climate change.”
The very mild winter of 2023/2024 and the record-breaking warm spring also brought unusually high precipitation levels. 2024 was a much wetter than usual year in Germany. The duration of sunshine was slightly above the typical average for this country.
The spring also went down in the DWD's climate statistics as the warmest since measurements began. The summer was also remarkably warm - August was even one of the four warmest since 1881. In September, heat records in the northeast set new standards, and the subsequent average autumn temperature, which was significantly too high, completed the character of the record-breaking warm year.
2024 with some extremely wet periods of precipitation, high water and flooding’ According to evaluations by the DWD, a good 903 litres per square metre (l/m²) of precipitation fell in 2024. This was significantly more than the average for the reference periods of 1961 to 1990, with 789 l/m² and 1991 to 2020, with 791 l/m². Full and state-by-state analysis. Graph showing anomilies from 1881 to 2024
Source: Deutscher Wetterdienst (German Meteorological Service) based in Offenbach am Main
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