After a hot weekend and the risk of severe weather on Sunday, the start of the week promises little cooling. As the German Weather Service (DWD) announced on Sunday in Offenbach, maximum values between 29 and 33 degrees Celsius will be reached in the coming days. In the north-west half, temperatures are said to be between 21 and 29 degrees.
According to the DWD, thunderstorms and showers are still possible in Germany on Monday, which are slowly moving towards the east. In some areas it can also cheer up longer. Showers and thunderstorms will subside on Tuesday night. The temperatures drop to 13 to 19 degrees Celsius, in the higher low mountain ranges to 10 degrees.
“On Tuesday, however, the heat will make a brief comeback before moderate summer weather continues on Wednesday,” said DWD meteorologist Simon Trippler. The temperatures are therefore on Tuesday in the far north at 21 to 28 degrees Celsius, otherwise at 29 to 36 degrees. Locally strong thunderstorms are possible from the south-west to the middle and the south-east. It is expected to remain dry in the east and north-east. On Wednesday, maximum values of 20 to 26 degrees Celsius are predicted in the north and west, otherwise 25 to 29 degrees.
People in Germany were already sweating profusely at the weekend. On Saturday, the nationwide highest value measured at a DWD weather station in Tönisvorst in North Rhine-Westphalia was 35.7 degrees according to preliminary data. It was that warm this year on June 22nd in Reit im Winkl in Upper Bavaria. It was particularly hot on Saturday with 35.3 degrees each in Duisburg-Baerl (NRW), Weilerswist (NRW), Saarbrücken-Burbach (Saarland), Kitzingen (Bavaria) and Andernach (Rhineland-Palatinate).
Even higher temperatures were forecast for Sunday. According to the DWD, it should be up to 38 degrees Celsius locally and up to 27 degrees on the coasts. For most areas, the meteorologists warned of severe thermal stress. Thunderstorms with a risk of severe weather were forecast for Sunday afternoon and evening, locally also with heavy rain, hail and hurricane-force gusts.
The DWD advises groups at particular risk, such as the elderly, the chronically ill and small children, to avoid the heat, to keep their homes and bodies cool and to drink enough. A warning about heat is issued when a high heat load is predicted and the living spaces are no longer expected to cool down sufficiently at night. Sleep becomes worse as a result, and the heat during the day is harder to cope with due to this stress.
There are two warning levels: Severe thermal stress is considered to be when the perceived temperature exceeds 32 degrees Celsius in the early afternoon. There is a warning of extreme heat stress if the perceived value exceeds 38 degrees Celsius in the early afternoon. According to the DWD, the felt temperature describes the temperature perception of a person, which depends not only on the actual air temperature but also on humidity or wind.
