Karlsruhe (dpa/lsw) – According to the Baden-Württemberg State Institute for the Environment (LUBW), this summer has the potential to become the hottest in the southwest. The Karlsruhe authorities have counted 23 hot days so far, on which the national average maximum temperature was 30 degrees or more. “And we’re not at the end of summer yet,” said LUBW President Ulrich Maurer on Tuesday. In the previous record year 2003 there were 27 hot days.
“In addition to the heat, there was also a low water situation with water levels that we only recorded in the past in autumn after long periods of drought,” said Maurer. With an average of almost 170 millimeters of precipitation in the months of June, July and August (as of August 24), the summer is likely to be one of the ten driest in Baden-Württemberg. In the drought year 2018 the value was 164 millimeters and in 2003 it was 174 millimeters.
At 304 centimeters, the level of Lake Constance at the Constance gauge in mid-August was so low that it is usually only reached at the beginning of November. That affects the Upper Rhine, said Maurer. But other rivers are also affected. “To put it very clearly: It is not an exceptional situation,” emphasized the LUBW President. Climate change is here and cannot be denied.
