German Weather Service
2023 was the warmest year in Germany since records began
There should be water here. Due to the heat, water levels in Germany were low and some rivers, like here in Brandenburg, even dried up completely
© Patrick Pleul / DPA
The trend was already clear worldwide weeks ago. The annual temperature record has now also been set for Germany.
2023 was the warmest year in Germany since records began in 1881. The German Weather Service (DWD) assumes this will happen five days before the end of the calendar year. The average temperature is expected to be 10.6 degrees, a spokesman told the German Press Agency on Wednesday.
It had already been exceptionally warm in Germany in 2022. With an annual mean temperature of 10.5 degrees Celsius, 2022 was on a par with the previous record holder in 2018. This made the past year one of the two warmest since records began in 1881.
The DWD plans to publish its official annual balance sheet for 2023 this Friday. Only then will there be details about the record and other information such as the amount of rain and duration of sunshine.
Temperature increase in Germany and worldwide at almost 1.46 degrees
Globally, 2023 was also the hottest year on record, according to the EU climate change service Copernicus. It is practically impossible that December will change anything, Copernicus announced on December 6th at the halfway point of the World Climate Conference.
According to Copernicus, global average temperatures were 1.46 degrees above the pre-industrial reference period from 1850 to 1900. So far, 2023 has been 0.13 degrees warmer than the first eleven months of the previous record year 2016. Climate State Secretary Jennifer Morgan said this in order to keep global warming at the same level as in 2015 Paris decided to keep below 1.5 degrees permanently, global emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases must fall quickly – by 43 percent by 2030.