While some are complaining about the heat and drought, other countries in Europe are reporting more precipitation than usual. According to experts, the extremes we have experienced in Germany in the past few months could soon be part of a typical summer.
The summer months from June to August were warmer in Europe than at any time since records began. This was announced by the EU climate change service Copernicus. The average temperature was 0.8 degrees Celsius in August and 0.4 degrees throughout the summer – i.e. from June to August – significantly above the previous peak values ????from 2018 and 2021, according to a statement from the climate change service.
Especially in the southwest of the continent, where temperatures were already high in June and July, they were significantly higher in August than in the reference period from 1991 to 2020. But they were also mostly above average in the east. In addition, August this year was generally much drier than average in western Europe and parts of the east.
On the other hand, there was more precipitation than usual in the south-east of the continent, Greece and Turkey and large parts of Scandinavia. “An intense series of heat waves across Europe, combined with unusually dry conditions, has resulted in a summer of extremes with record temperatures, drought and forest fires in many parts of Europe (…)”, said Copernicus scientist Freja Vamborg.
The data from the climate change service showed that not only was August the warmest on record, but also that the entire summer broke the record that was only a year old, Vamborg continued. The Copernicus records go back to 1979.
According to data from the German Weather Service (DWD), the summer of 2022 was also too hot and dry in Germany. In addition, according to preliminary calculations, it was the sunniest since records began. “In times of climate change, we should have experienced what will soon be a typical summer,” says meteorologist Uwe Kirsche.
Specifically, this year’s summer is one of the four warmest of the past more than 140 years and is the sixth driest summer in this period. The DWD has been recording sunshine duration since 1951, temperatures and precipitation have been recorded since 1881. “From the start, June already brought the summer into full swing, became a long-distance runner in July and remained so in August,” says the weather service.
The highest value in Germany was measured on July 20th in Hamburg with 40.1 degrees. According to the provisional summer balance, the average temperature was 19.2 degrees and thus 2.9 degrees above the value of the internationally valid reference period 1961 to 1990. Compared to the warmer reference period 1991 to 2020, the deviation was plus 1.6 degrees.
The last time it was particularly hot was in the summer of 2019 – with an average temperature of 19.2 degrees, it was the third warmest since recording began. Only the summers of 2003 (19.7 degrees) and 2018 (19.3 degrees) were even warmer.
However, just looking at average values ??is not particularly informative, said Andreas Marx, head of the German Drought Monitor at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig. “This summer is probably more marked by heat than 2003.” The number of hot days and the intensity of heat waves are increasing.
