2025.01.07Weather in Germany in 2024Accelerated climate change: 2024 again the warmest year since measurements began after 2023

Germany has never had a year as warm as 2024 since measurements began in 1881, meaning that the German Weather Service (DWD) has to report another ‘record year’ after 2023.

Uwe Kirsche, DWD press spokesman: ‘What is particularly alarming is that 2024 has exceeded the previous year by an extraordinary 0.3 degrees. This is accelerated climate change.’ The very mild winter of 2023/2024 and the record-breaking warm spring also brought unusually high levels of precipitation. 2024 was clearly too wet a year in Germany. The duration of sunshine was slightly above the typical average for this country. This was reported by the German Weather Service (DWD) following initial analyses of the results from its approximately 2,000 measuring stations.

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Extreme temperature peaks were rare in 2024
At 10.9 degrees Celsius (°C), the average temperature in 2024 was 2.7 degrees above the value for the internationally recognised reference period from 1961 to 1990 (8.2 °C). Compared to the current and warmer reference period 1991 to 2020 (9.3 °C), the deviation was 1.6 degrees. This continued the accelerated warming trend that had already led to new highs in 2023 (10.6 °C) and 2022 (10.5 °C as in 2018). 2024 also ensured that the linear temperature trend since measurements began (1881-2024) has now risen to 1.9 degrees. In 2023, it was still at 1.8 degrees. A mild start to the year was followed in the second and third week of January by a very wintry phase in parts, with the annual low of -19.5 °C on 20 January in Leutkirch-Herlazhofen in the Allgäu region. Spring then began in February, which, with an unprecedented average temperature of 6.6 °C, was more like a cooler April. The spring itself also went down in the DWD's climate statistics as the warmest since measurements began. The summer was also remarkably warm - August was even one of the four warmest since 1881. 36.5 °C was measured in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate, on 13 August, the highest temperature in Germany in 2024. In September, heat records in the north-east set new standards and the subsequent average autumn temperature, which was significantly too high, completed the character of the record-breaking warm year.

2024 with some extremely wet periods of precipitation, high water and flooding
According to initial evaluations by the DWD, a good 903 litres per square metre (l/m²) of precipitation fell in 2024. This was significantly more than the average for the reference periods of 1961 to 1990 with 789 l/m² and 1991 to 2020 with 791 l/m². The year began with winter flooding in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt. Winter and spring were particularly rainy, with the hydrological winter half-year (November 2023 to April 2024) being the wettest in Germany since measurements began. In Trendelburg in northern Hesse, the highest daily total in Germany fell on 1 August at 169.8 l/m². Over the course of the year, the DWD measured the highest amounts on the edge of the Alps and in the Black Forest, with over 2600 l/m² locally,
while the north-east of the country remained comparatively dry with regional totals below 500 litres/m².

Sunshine in 2024 was slightly above climatological expectations
At just under 1700 hours, sunshine duration in 2024 was above the target of 1544 hours (period 1961 to 1990). This also applies in comparison to the more recent reference period 1991 to 2020 (1665 hours). With up to 2,000 hours of sunshine, the highest values in Germany were measured from the Leipzig lowland bay to Upper Lusatia and the Baltic Sea coast in particular. In parts of western Germany, on the other hand, the sun often only shone for around 1500 hours.

Read this and more on the website of the German Weather Service (DWD)