Deutscher Wetterdienst Annual Report 2017 2 The Reference for Meteorology is the Deutscher Wetterdienst Virtually everyone is interested in the In its role as a national meteorological as serving the needs of the Federation, weather and virtually every area of our service, the DWD is also a provider of the Länder, the local governments and lives is affected by weather and climate. scientific and technical services and a institutions of justice; monitoring the As the reference for meteorology in competent and reliable partner for public climate; analysing and projecting climate Germany, the Deutscher Wetterdienst and private partners in the field of me- change and climate change impacts; (DWD) is the prime point of contact for teorology and climatology. Its customers’ providing climate and environment all questions related to these areas. increasing demands on quality not only The DWD, which was founded in 1952, consultancy services; and ensuring the The range of duties is many and varied. oblige the DWD to supply high-quality is, as the national meteorological service fulfilment of the international commit- The DWD records, analyses and monitors products and services, but also are a of the Federal Republic of Germany, ments entered into by the Federal the physical and chemical processes continuous incentive to improve product responsible for providing services for the Republic of Germany. The DWD thus in our atmosphere. It holds information quality, customer orientation and eco- protection of life and property in the co-ordinates the meteorological interests on all types of meteorological events, nomic efficiency. form of weather and climate information. of Germany on a national level in close offers a diverse range of services both This is its core task. Established as an agreement with the Federal Govern- for the general public and for special executive agency of the Federal Ministry ment and represents the Government user groups and operates the national of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in intergovernmental and international climate archive. (BMVI), the DWD provides meteorological organisations such as, for example, information to ensure the safety of the World Meteorological Organization aviation and maritime shipping, traffic (WMO). These duties are embodied routes and vital infrastructures, in par- in the Deutscher Wetterdienst Act of ticular those needed for energy supply 10 September 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, and communication systems. It also p. 2871), last amended by Article 1 issues warnings of meteorological events of the Act of 17 July 2017 (Federal Law that could become a danger to public Gazette I, p. 2642). safety and order and have a high poten- tial to cause damage. The DWD, however, also has other important tasks, such 2017 Table of contents 3 Table of contents The President’s Opening Remarks 4 Weather & Climate 2017 5 Developments & Events 14 Title Measuring & Observing Networks 43 The DWD has been providing spatial meteoro- bottom centre logical and climatological data and data services Opendata.dwd.de offers the users a wide range for free on its web page www.dwd.de/opendata of ready-made products. The example on the since 25 July 2017. A choice of open data screen shows an extract of the raw data for an Global Co-operation & International Projects 46 displayed on the multi-vision screen at the official warning. DWD’s Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), which itself provides free gridded bottom right Facts & Figures 58 precipitation data. Visualisation of these raw data: the warning polygons are displayed using a Web Map top part of the screen Service (WMS). The DWD’s GeoServer maps.dwd.de can, at the Executive Board & Organisation 64 request of users, generate certain products and directly deliver them to the users. A Look Back & A Look Forward 69 bottom left Display of one of the DWD’s own products for the meteorological workstation NinJo. Contact & Imprint 74 Text Sources 76 2017 The President’s Opening Remarks 4 left having to levy a charge. Since 25 July 2017, these have been offered free of charge via Prof. Dr Gerhard our special webpage as an addition to the climate data that are freely available Adrian, President through our Climate Data Center . All these data constitute a real treasure trove for of the Deutscher our business customers as they can use them to create new value-added products Wetterdienst for the market. ‘Developments & Events’ also includes reports on the measurement of the radio- active substance Ruthenium-106, new aeronautical meteorological products and the DWD’s role at the climate change conference COP 23 in Bonn as well as the G20 Summit in Hamburg. The chapter also presents the FloWKar project (abbreviated from ‘Flottenwetterkarte’, German for ‘fleet weather map’), which we conduct in co-oper- Dear readers, ation with the car producer Audi AG thanks to the financial support from our parent Welcome to the online Annual Report 2017 of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD). ministry, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). The aim of Last year, 2017, was an eventful year for us, with numerous particularities and devel- this project is to study how meteorological data collected by cars travelling on the opments, about which you can read in this report. roads can be included in the DWD’s weather forecasting process. Let’s start with the weather, which presented itself unsettled throughout the year This year, the chapter ‘A Look Back & A Look Forward’ is dedicated to the Montreal with some extreme manifestations. 2017 was once again a year that was significantly Protocol, signed in 1987. The DWD’s Hohenpeissenberg Ozone Group was awarded one warmer than the long-term climate average. It is worth noting that only two years of the Scientific Leadership Awards of the Montreal Protocol – which constitutes a remark- during the last 30 years were colder than normal. Many of you will not have forgotten able success. In this context, we also present an interview with Dr Paul A. Newman, the two windstorms XAVIER and HERWART, which, in October, caused several deaths Chief Scientist for Earth Sciences at NASA, on his work for the Montreal Protocol. and millions of euros of damage. And if we look beyond Europe, everyone will remember Please let me take this opportunity to thank all our staff members. It is their creativity the two extreme major hurricanes HARVEY and IRMA, which devastated the Caribbean and commitment which made it possible again that the DWD could contribute to the and the south of the United States. You will find detailed reports about all of these technical progress in meteorology and climatology, both nationally and internationally, in the chapter ‘Weather & Climate’. and use the new achievements profitably for the benefit of our society. The chapter ‘Developments & Events’ presents key events and central topics of Dear readers, I now invite you to find out more about the Deutscher Wetterdienst, our our work. One of the main milestones in 2017 undoubtedly was the amendment of the tasks and duties as well as the work of our staff members. Deutscher Wetterdienst Act. Society and economy in Germany are increasingly My best wishes for a pleasant reading. affected by the weather and the impacts of climate change. In acknowledgement of this, Germany’s law-making bodies have updated the legislation on the DWD. The amended ‘Deutscher Wetterdienst Act’ came into force on 25 July 2017, substantially broadening the DWD’s scope of duties. What is more, the DWD can now offer a large Yours sincerely, variety of spatial meteorological and climatological data and data services without Gerhard Adrian Weather & Climate 2017 5 2017 Weather & Climate 6 Another very warm, unsettled and often extreme year The year 2017 was once again a year that was much warmer in Germany than the long-term average. Only two years in the last 30 years were colder than normal. This time, however, there was slight excess of precipitation and sunshine. right Spring blossom in the Schwarza- tal (Thuringia) before the late frost arrived after Easter // Source: Rüdiger Manig, DWD Throughout the year, the weather was often unsettled but repeatedly brought ex- treme manifestations. January began with some severe night frosts, numerous bodies of water froze. The winter appeared to make an early retreat in February: many lowland areas did not see any snow at all. March even was the warmest since measurements first began in 1881. April then brought plunging minus temperatures with devastating effects on the already well-advanced vegetation. Although May started off wet and cool, it also saw the first heatwave of the year arriving at the end of the month. The summer was very hot in the south but rather cool in the north. The initial dryness was followed by frequent and large quantities of precipitation in July and August. September was also wet and somewhat too cool. October was then again one of the warmest since 1881. Hurricane-force winter storms XAVIER and HERWART resulted in deaths and caused great damage. At the beginning of November, a longer period of precipi- tation with just a few dry days set in, which then carried on through to the end of the year. Some snow fell during the weeks of Advent, including in lowland areas, but it disappeared rapidly again as a thaw set in. 2017 Weather & Climate 7 Unusually early start to the 2017 / 2018 storm season Compared to the international reference period 1961–1990, the winter half year 2017 / 18 (1 September 2017 to 28 February 2018) was too hot climatically, with too much precipitation and too little sunshine. Six winter storms were registered in this six-month period, all of which developed from low pressure areas in the transition zone between air masses and produced hurricane-force gusts on exposed mountainous ridges and summits as well as in lowland areas.