Germany's summer 2022 sunniest and among warmest on record

The summer of 2022 in Germany was the sunniest, the sixth driest and among the four warmest on record, Germany's National Meteorological Service (DWD) said. “In these times of climate change, we are likely to have experienced a summer that will soon be typical,” according to DWD spokesperson Uwe Kirsche. With almost 820 hours, the duration of sunshine between June and August exceeded the average of 1991-2020 by about 25 percent. The summer of 2022 clearly replaced the previous record holder of 2003 (793 hours). With around 145 litres per square metre (l/m²), almost 40 percent less precipitation fell than the average of the reference period 1961 to 1990 (239 l/m²). The DWD highlighted that it was also a summer of extremes: Heat records in northern Germany, historic drought in the west, low water levels and dried-up rivers, numerous records for forest fires, drinking water bottlenecks – often side by side with regional heavy rainfall and flooding.

The DWD data "shows once again that the world and Germany are in the midst of climate change,"said Fred Hattermann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). "But this year's drought is only the continuation of a trend that has been evident for some time, and has intensified over the last five years."

As a heat wave hits Europe exactly one year after heavy rain caused deadly floods in the centre of the continent in 2021, the focus of the public debate in Germany has again shifted to the impacts of a changing climate. The head of the Federal Office for Civil Protection (BBK), Ralph Tiesler, said some areas should not be resettled given climate change and the acute threat of severe weather disasters and floods.