It was hard to miss the fact that this year’s February wasn’t exactly wintery. The figures from the German Weather Service (DWD) now confirm this impression: the average temperature in Germany this month was 6.6 degrees Celsius, the comparison value for the reference period 1961 to 1990 is 0.4 degrees. Even compared to the significantly warmer period from 1991 to 2020, the month is out of line, still a good five degrees above average. It has never been anywhere near as mild in Germany this month; the DWD calls the value “unprecedented”. The previous record dates back to 1990 and, at 5.7 degrees, is almost one degree below the current value.
Even in March, the average temperature in Germany is usually around 3.5 degrees; at least during the reference period, around seven degrees was only common in April, not in winter.
Of course, climate change is ultimately behind the enormous heat, but the extreme value only came about due to the weather conditions of the past few weeks. For almost the entire month, mild Atlantic air came to Germany continuously, bringing not only warmth but also a lot of rain: Precipitation was 65 percent above the average for the years 1961 to 1990. Above all, the month was characterized by unusually mild, cloudy nights embossed. Even the lowest value in Germany, measured in Oberstdorf on February 24th, is only in the moderate frost range at -5.2 degrees Celsius. In many places, especially in the West, there was no frost all month.
It was a little cooler in Bavaria than the German average, but the deviation compared to normal is even more significant: an average of 6.3 degrees in February is almost seven degrees too high for Bavaria. Compared to the rest of the country, there was little rainfall, but at 68 liters per square meter it was still a fifth more than usual.
The record-warm February was significantly more unusual than the previous two months, but overall, according to the DWD, the entire winter was too warm. At 4.1 degrees Celsius, the average temperature was 3.9 degrees above the value of the reference period, putting winter in third place in the temperature statistics, after 2006/2007 and 2019/2020. Only at the beginning of December was it briefly wintry with heavy snowfalls, especially in the south, and also in mid-January. Otherwise it remained mild. With heavy hazel and alder pollen, the health problems for allergy sufferers began early this year.