Deutscher Wetterdienst Annual Report 2016 2 The reference for meteorology is the Deutscher Wetterdienst Virtually everyone is interested in the In its role as a National Meteorological weather and virtually every area of our Service, the DWD is also a provider lives is affected by weather and climate. of scientific and technical services and a As the reference for meteorology in competent and reliable partner for public the Federal Republic of Germany the and private partners in the field of me- Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) is the teorology. The increasing demands of its competent contact point for all these customers not only oblige the DWD to important tasks, such as the provision issues. The range of tasks is many and supply highquality products and services, of services to the Federation, the Länder, varied. It records, analyses and monitors but also are a continuous incentive to and the institutions administering the physical and chemical processes improve product quality, customer orien- The DWD, which was founded in 1952, justice, as well as the fulfilment of inter- in our atmosphere. The DWD holds infor- tation, and profitability. is, as the National Meteorological Service national commitments entered into by mation on all meteorological occurrences, of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany. The offers a diverse range of services, both responsible for providing services for the DWD thus co-ordinates the meteoro- for the general public and for special protection of life and property in the logical interests of Germany on a nation- user groups and operates the national form of weather and climate information. al level in close agreement with the climate archive. This is its core task. Acting as a federal Federal Government and represents the authority under the department of the Government in intergovernmental and Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital international organisations as, for ex- Infrastructure (BMVI), the DWD assures ample the World Meteorological Organiza- the meteorological safeguarding of avi- tion (WMO). These tasks are embodied in ation and marine shipping and issues the Law on the Deutscher Wetterdienst warnings of meteorological events that from 10 September 1998. could endanger public safety and order. The DWD, however, also has other 2016 Table of contents Table of contents 3 . Four times fifty years The President’s Opening Remarks 4 Weather & Climate 2016 5 Developments & Events 18 Measuring & Observing Networks 33 Global Co-operation & International Projects 36 . The pictures at the beginning of each chapter Facts & Figures 45 were taken on the occasion of the four 50-year anniversaries celebrated in 2016: first reception of meteorological satellite data, beginning of Executive Board & Organisation 50 numerical weather prediction, beginning of ozone sounding and start into high-performance computing. Contact & Imprint 56 2016 The President’s Opening Remarks Dear Reader, 4 Welcome to the Deutscher Wetterdienst’s Annual Report for 2016. In fact, the year 2016 does not rank among the top 10 warmest years on record since systematic, representative measurements began in Germany in 1881. But at an average temperature of 9.5 °C, it was still 1.3 degrees warmer than the long- term average of 8.2 °C for the international reference period 1961 – 1990. Many of you will not have forgotten the heavy rain events from the end of May through to early June when unprecedented flash floods battered the places Braunsbach and Simbach am Inn and several people lost their lives. The chapter ‘Weather & Climate’ includes a detailed report about these long two weeks – during which the DWD . issued about 3,000 warnings. Prof. Dr Gerhard Climatologically, such events occur less than once in 100 years. But it appeared from Adrian, President of what happened that heavy rain is a rather underestimated natural hazard. As we so that, for instance, today’s 7-day forecasts are more the Deutscher Wetter- know global warming increases the atmosphere’s capacity to absorb water vapour. accurate than any of the 1-day forecasts in 1970. More infor- As a result of this, convective heavy rain events can occur more frequently. dienst. mation about the four anniversaries can be found in the chapter ‘Developments & Events’. Another important date to The precise warning of small-scale, localised weather hazards poses a significant remember, also in 1966, is 2 November, when ozone sounding was started at the challenge to weather forecasting. This is why the introduction of our new warning DWD’s Hohenpeissenberg Meteorological Observatory. With the long-term series management scheme in 2016 was such an important step. Instead of the previous of data collected there since then, the DWD contributes vitally to the research activ- rural-district scale, the warning of hazardous weather, which is one of the DWD’s ities examining changes in the atmosphere and, through this, to informed political key statutory tasks, now takes place by municipality/community, i. e. at the local decision-making. level. This, for example, enables civil protection agencies to better co-ordinate their response teams and makes it possible to warn the public more precisely. Achieving all this and the many other developments described in this report was only possible thanks to the DWD’s highly dedicated staff team. Let me take the The more detailed, locally more precise warnings are the result of improved weather opportunity to express my highest praise and recognition for their outstanding com- prediction models, a much larger availability of observation data (especially satellite mitment. and radar data) and the increased capacity of our high-performance computer. But this is not the end of development and the DWD has already set out on one of its Dear readers, I hope that I could give you a first short insight into the DWD and that most momentous strategic projects: the establishment of a so-called integrated fore- you will enjoy finding out more about Germany’s national meteorological service. casting system named SINFONY, which stands for seamless forecasts for zero to I invite you to click and browse through our Annual Report for 2016 – and wish you a twelve hours ahead. pleasant reading. All this progress is not unfounded: 1966 saw the first reception of meteorological satellite data in Germany, the first numerical weather prediction models became operational and the same year also marked the DWD’s start into high-performance computing. These developments have revolutionised meteorology. During the Yours sincerely, 50 years since then, the quality of weather forecasting has improved significantly Gerhard Adrian . 5 Weather & Climate 2016 50 years of reception of data from meteorological satellites 1 2 . 1 2 ESSA 4 satellite image of 17 March 1967, Meteosat 10 satellite image of 22 February 2016, 10:56 UTC, visible range, height in orbit: 10:15 UTC: this composite image of infrared 1,440 km. The image shows Finland, northern and visible range data is used as the basis for Norway, northern Sweden, the ice-covered satellite imagery in the DWD’s WarnWetter app. Gulf of Bothnia (top right),Iceland (middle left) // Source: DWD and the British Isles (bottom middle). // Source: DWD 2016 Weather & Climate 2016 At the beginning of 2016, in January and February, precipitation totals far higher than 6 average finally put an end to the great drought that had prevailed in Germany since With temperatures of 1.3 degrees above 2015, particularly in southern and central Germany. Whereas during April in previous normal, 2016 in Germany was much too warm years the country had often basked in the temperatures typical for early summer, April 2016 saw a cold snap during the last ten days of the month with snow falling even in lowland areas. The end of May and June brought severe thunderstorms with ex- At 1.3 degrees above normal, 2016 was much too warm treme amounts of rain, which caused catastrophic flooding in some places. This led to in Germany, but there were no new temperature records the result that by the end of the first six months of 2016, numerous DWD stations had recorded more precipitation than they did during the whole of 2015. But then the as in 2014 and 2015, when record averages of 10.3 and general weather pattern changed: during the months that followed some periods 9.9 degrees Celsius (°C), respectively, were measured. The were much too dry and, from July onwards, there were several heatwaves. September was among the three warmest September months since records first began in 1881, year was normal in terms of precipitation and sunshine whereas October and November were too cool. Although December was much colder duration. than in 2015, there was just as little snow. 2016 Weather & Climate 2016 7 At 37.1 °C, Neunkirchen-Wellesweiler saw the hottest In spite of ample rain during the first half of the year, temperature in 2016 2016 was too dry At 9.5 °C, the temperature in 2016 was 1.3 degrees warmer than the average of With 733 litres per square metre (l/m²), precipitation in 2016 only reached 93 per cent 8.2 °C during the international reference period 1961 – 1990. With reference to of the normal precipitation total of 789 l/m² that is typical for Germany. This made the warmer comparative period 1981 – 2010, the deviation was +0.7 degrees. Thus, 2016 the sixth year in succession when it was too dry. Most precipitation fell between 2016 was not among the warmest ten years since 1881. The mercury climbed the end of May and the end of June, which was a period with an unusually large num- to its highest level on 27 August when the temperature of 37.1 °C was recorded in ber of severe thunderstorms.