Even if rain and rather fresh temperatures currently give a different impression, according to the German Weather Service (DWD), July 2023 was once again too warm. At 18.7 degrees Celsius, the average temperature was 1.8 degrees above the July value of the internationally valid reference period from 1961 to 1990, the DWD reported on Monday in its preliminary balance sheet. Compared to the current and warmer comparison period from 1991 to 2020, the deviation was still 0.4 degrees, according to the previous evaluation of the around 2000 DWD measuring stations.
According to the information, the midsummer weather with heat peaks in the first half of the month contributed to this result. Nationwide leader was Moehrendorf-Kleinseebach north of Nuremberg on July 15 with 38.8 degrees. Even the cooler air masses that characterized the last third of the month were not able to completely suppress the excessively warm average temperature. The maximum values from July 25th to 27th were only below 20 degrees in many places. Even at night it became widespread fresh. Overall, July 2023 was not only too warm, it was also widely wet and evenly sunny.
With around 100 liters per square meter, almost 30 percent more precipitation was recorded than in the reference period from 1961 to 1990. Initially, only the extreme north and north-west were affected by precipitation. Especially in the last week of the month, showers, thunderstorms and heavy rain were part of the daily weather patterns.
Even if the weather of the last few days has been a flop for beer gardens and café terraces, the rain has eased the previous extreme drought in the extreme north, south and south-west. The Bavarian Alps, along with the North Sea coast, were among the wettest regions with more than 200 liters of precipitation per square meter. It stayed drier from the Magdeburg Börde to Lusatia.
The sun, which was more likely to be seen behind dark clouds on rainy days, exceeded its target of 211 hours by almost 10 percent with 230 hours of sunshine in July. According to the DWD, the eastern parts of the country reported the most hours of sunshine. The Alps, the western low mountain ranges and large parts of the north-west brought up the rear with only around 200 hours of sunshine.
August is also likely to start off rather wet: the meteorologists expect mostly dense clouds for Tuesday in the southern half of Germany and widespread shower-like rain, which can also be heavy in places. In other areas of Germany it is cloudy with showers and brief thunderstorms. The maximum values of 18 to 23 degrees are not exactly midsummer.
