The Weather in Germany in Spring 2018

The weather in Germany in spring 2018

Cold at the start of spring, hot at the end – lots of sun and sparse precipitation

Offenbach, 30 May 2018 – Spring 2018 started as winter but ended as high summer. Sharp frosts still prevailed at the start of March, particularly in northern and eastern Germany. The cold season once more made an appearance at the start of April with a great deal of snow. Never- theless, after this, spring arrived in Germany rapidly. At the end of May, the country even experienced its first heatwave of the year. Thus, the warmest April since official temperature measurements first began was followed by an equally warm May. This made this year’s spring the second warmest overall since records began. Whereas the amount of precipitation was signifi- cantly less than the long-term average, the sunshine duration was far higher than average. This is what the initial analysis by the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) of data from its around 2,000 weather stations shows.

A cold March was followed by two months that were much too warm This year, at 10.3 degrees Celsius (°C), the average temperature for the spring months was 2.6 degrees higher than the internationally valid reference period 1961–1990. Looking at the comparative period 1981–2010, the deviation was 1.8 degrees above normal. This made spring 2018 the second warmest since measurements began, with only spring 2007 being warmer. This year, the actual season of winter had not really lived up to its name, but it then extended well into the spring. On 2 March, for example, the mercury fell to -19.2 °C in Barth, to the west of Stralsund, and thus to the lowest figure nationwide. On 17 and 18 March, the maximum temperatures in central Germany were around -4 °C and even on 1 April, the temperature in Meck- lenburg-Western Pomerania often did not exceed +1 °C. However, after this, the temperatures rose rapidly. On 7 April, Kaiserslautern reported 25.2 °C, and, on 22 April, 30.4 °C was recorded in Ohlsbach, to the south-east of Offenburg. Extraordinarily early, Lingen in the Emsland reported as many as 20 summer days in May, with a daily maximum temperature of over 25 degrees. The warmest temperature nationwide of 34.2 °C was also registered in Lingen on 29 May.

Much too dry in some regions, severe thunderstorms in the south and west For the fifth year in succession, spring did not achieve the normal 185 litres per square meter (l/m²): at around 140 l/m2, this year’s spring precipitation was only 74 per cent of the normal figure. Areas where it was much too dry were primarily the Upper Palatinate and parts of Saxo- ny-Anhalt, where precipitation in some areas was only 70 l/m². Cold weather continued with some wintry spells into March and early April primarily in northern Germany, sometimes with substantial depths of snow. At the end of April and May, the south and west experienced heavy thunderstorms, which in some places produced devastating severe weather with hail and torren- tial rain. On 24 May, for example, 151.8 l/m² fell in Bad Elster-Sohl in the Vogtland and 146.6 l/m² was recorded on 27 May in Herrstein-Bruchweiler in the Hunsrück.

Spring 2018 – one of the four sunniest since measurements began in 1951 At around 610 hours, the sunshine duration was 133 per cent of the normal amount of 459 hours. This made spring 2018 one of the four sunniest since measurements first began in 1951. The sun shone most in Brandenburg and Berlin, where up to 750 hours were recorded; the south and south-west saw least sunshine, with some places recording less than 500 hours.

All the monthly values stated in this press release are provisional figures. The data used for the last two days of the month are based on forecasts. Some of the measurements from DWD's network of stations were not yet available at the time of publication.

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