The weather in Germany in March 2013 Cold March and lots of snow – many records in eastern and northern regions Offenbach, 28 March 2013 – After a relatively mild start, Germany was caught on the southern edge of a strong high pressure system over a large area of Northern Europe that, at times, drew in extremely cold air from the Arctic. This set a series of records for cold temperatures and quantities of snow, particularly for stations in the north and east. Only southern and central Germany experienced moments of spring-like weather. Altogether March was much too cold, with low levels of precipitation and above average sunshine nearly everywhere, as the initial analysis by the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) of data from its around 2,000 weather stations shows. Initially, spring-like and mild but later bitter cold periods and continuous frost At 0.2 degrees Celsius (°C), the average temperature for Germany was 3.3 degrees below normal, as recorded by the international reference values for 1961 to 1990. Compared to the reference period 1981 to 2010, the negative deviation was as high as 4.1 degrees. This made March 2013 one of the six coldest March months nationwide since measurements began in 1881. The mild start was followed by an abrupt fall in temperature. While on 6 March, the temperature recorded at Dusseldorf airport was 20.2°C, which was a new record high for the first ten days of the month and thus the maximum for the month in Germany, seven days later the temperature was as low as -11.9°C. The sharpest frost of the month was on 16 March in Deutschneudorf-Brüderwiese in the Ore Mountain range, where the temperature was -21.3°C. Mid-March and then again 22 and 23 March saw a whole series of record cold temperatures at many measuring stations, particularly in the north and east of Germany. Coschen, to the south of Eisenhüttenstadt, reported a ten-day record of -18.9°C on 24 March. Wiesenburg, to the south-west of Potsdam, registered 15 days of continuous frost. It will become clearer where new negative records have been set for individual German federal States, once the DWD has made a precise analysis of results at the end of the month. Some areas under a continuous blanket of snow, yet much too dry Rainfall in March was around 36 litres per square metre (l/m²) and was therefore far below the long- term average of 57 l/m². In the north-east, almost all the precipitation fell as snow. The small-scale low pressure area “Xaver”, which crossed Germany from west to east on 12 March, had a great effect on the weather. It left a blanket of snow over a wide area, which – because of the low temperatures – did not melt for a long time. Consequently, since 10 March, Berlin has been blanketed by snow and this has been up to 20 cm deep in the last ten days of the month. There has been no snow this deep there in the last third of March since 1892. Total sunshine positive nearly everywhere The 124 hours of sunshine in Germany in March 2013 was 12 per cent more than the long-term average of 111 hours. The most sunshine was recorded in Grünow, to the north-east of Berlin, with around 190 hours. The least sunny place was Rheinfelden on the High Rhine at about 90 hours. .