Status: 09/28/2022 2:43 p.m
Scientists warn urgently about the irreversible consequences of global warming. The effects of climate change are much stronger in Germany than the global average. Hot summers would soon be normal.
Scientists warn that the current global warming is having a much stronger effect in Germany than the global average. “We are now experiencing climate change right on our doorstep and are directly affected ourselves,” said Tobias Fuchs, board member of the German Weather Service (DWD), at the 12th Extreme Weather Congress. The event will take place in Hamburg until Friday.
Extremely hot and dry summers have become much more likely, according to the “Extreme Weather Fact Paper 2022” presented today. While the global temperature is about 1.1 degrees above the period from 1881 to 1910, it is about 1.6 degrees in Germany.
Nine of the ten warmest years since 2000
Since 1960, every decade in this country has been warmer than the previous one. According to the experts, nine of the ten warmest years since systematic, comprehensive weather records began in 1881 have also occurred since the year 2000. Since the 1990s, there has been a massive accumulation of heat waves in many regions.
In addition, the number of hot days with a temperature of at least 30 degrees has tripled in Germany since the 1950s – from around three days per year to the current average of nine. “Such an extraordinary cluster of record years in temperature can only be explained in terms of man-made global warming,” the report’s authors write.
Germany will get even hotter
Fuchs gave examples of the consequences of climate change in many regions: This year’s summer was extremely dry and warm and felt like it had already started in May. Soil had dried up almost everywhere, the water levels in rivers were very low and there were many forest fires, said Fuchs. “The bottom line is that a summer that will soon be typical for Germany in the face of climate change.”
If greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, a further increase of five to ten hot days per year in northern Germany and ten to 20 in southern Germany is expected for the period from 2031 to 2060.
This will also further increase the risk of forest fires. The forest fire risk is also exacerbated by the fact that the trees, already weakened by drought damage, form more litter on the forest floor. This can dry out more easily due to the lighter crowns and thus also catch fire.
Dying Sitka spruces in a forest near Rostock. According to scientists, the danger of droughts and forest fires in Germany will continue to increase.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Melting ice conflicts
According to the report, however, the connection between climate change and heavy precipitation is less clear than that between climate change and temperature increases. This is “complex and the subject of intensive research”. From 1951 to 2021, the number of days with heavy rain changed only slightly.
According to the German Climate Consortium (DKK), one focus of the congress this year is the melting of glaciers, sea ice and land ice. Scientists expect further losses in the coming decades, increasing the risk of water shortages and bilateral conflicts.
Around 100 scientists and experts will present the latest findings to the public until Friday. The experts demanded that efforts to protect the climate should be intensified.
The climate doesn’t wait just because you have a lot of other worries, said “Fridays for Future” activist Luisa Neubauer. Government and society must also be able to tackle several crises at the same time.