Leipzig (dpa / sn) – According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the winter in Saxony was the second coldest in Germany – but it was comparatively warm. The average temperature was 2.1 degrees Celsius, as the DWD announced in its winter statistics on Monday. Bavaria came in first, Saxony came in second with Thuringia. The statistics refer to the meteorological winter, i.e. the months of December, January and February.
The temperatures in Saxony are below the national average of 2.9 degrees. However, according to DWD press spokesman Uwe Kirsche, the winter was again far too warm this year. “Germany experienced the twelfth winter that was too warm in a row. Climate change is not letting up,” said Kirsche.
It is therefore worrying that there were hardly any lowland winters last winter. In addition, there were record temperatures of up to 20.8 degrees in Upper Bavaria on New Year’s Eve. Associated with this, the pollen load in Germany from hazel and alder increased sharply early on.
Despite the temperatures, there was a closed blanket of snow on at least 50 percent of all winter days in the higher Ore Mountains. However, this was not the case everywhere in Germany: “Winter fans only got their money’s worth in the higher mountains. Overall, the past three months were slightly too dry,” explained Kirsche.
In Saxony it rained an average of 150 liters per square meter. Overall, the precipitation balance for Germany is 170 liters per square meter.