Just in time for the beginning of the calendar summer, Germany is facing a hot weekend with temperatures of partly well over 30 degrees. The highest temperatures in southwestern Germany are likely to be reached this Sunday with a restaurant up to 37 degrees, as stated in the prediction of the German Weather Service (DWD).
From Sunday evening, the meteorologists in the west and northwest expect strong showers and thunderstorms. According to the DWD, maximum temperatures between 26 degrees in Western Pomerania and 33 degrees on the Rhine are already expected on Saturday – it should be a little cooler on the lake. In the Black Forest and in the Allgäu, individual strong thunderstorms are not entirely excluded on Saturday evening, as the meteorologists said.
Showers and thunderstorms on Sunday evening
For Sunday, the weather service expects maximum temperatures from 31 to 35 degrees – and up to 37 degrees in the southwest. According to the prediction, it is cooler on the coasts with a maximum of 28 degrees. Sunday should initially be predominantly sunny before the western clouds of spring appear in the west and northwest of Germany and there can be strong showers and thunderstorms in the evening. On Monday night, the strong showers and thunderstorms are supposed to shift east and southeast.
According to the further weather forecast, the Monday is changing. From the Neiße in the east of Germany to the Hochrhein and the Alps, sometimes strong showers and thunderstorms – partly with storm potential – is to be expected, according to the DWD. In the north and northwest, there should be shower -like rain and individual thunderstorms in some areas. The maximum values are expected to be between 20 and 26 degrees on Monday in the northwestern half and 25 to 30 degrees.
Previous temperature records are not surpassed
Even if up to 37 degrees are actually reached at the weekend, we are still removed from temperature records: the highest temperature ever measured at a DWD station is 41.2 degrees-it was reached at the end of July 2019 both in Duisburg-Baerl and in the nearby Tönisvorst (both North Rhine-Westphalia). The highest Juni temperature was measured on June 30, 2019 in Bernburg (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt with 39.6 degrees.
The hot weekend coincides with the calendar or astronomical beginning of summer on Saturday. At the summer solstice, the sun has the highest midday height over the horizon. The cause is essentially that the earth's axis on the ground of the earth around the sun is not vertical, but is slightly inclined. So the northern hemisphere is currently inclined to the sun – we experience long days and a high level of the sun. During the winter solstice in December, however, the northern hemisphere turned away from the sun – the days with us are short.
Exactly the sun in the northern hemisphere has already climbed the summit of its annual track at 4.42 a.m. on Saturday. The summer solstice is the beginning of the astronomical summer – with the longest day, followed by the shortest night of the year. After that, the days get shorter again.
Many people celebrate the summer solstice, such as at the English Steinkreis Stonehenge. For that they went through the night. Customs on midsummer night is also alive in Scandinavia and in the Baltic States.
A distinction is made between the calendar or astronomical beginning of summer, the meteorological beginning of summer, which was already on June 1st. Meteorologists summarize the seasons for statistics purposes throughout the months. Meteorological summer is therefore from June to August.
