There are around 40 tornadoes per year in Germany on average. Even with the best analytical techniques, they are difficult to predict.
People who have experienced a tornado up close remember the overwhelming noise above all: “It sounded like a freight train passing you,” says Thomas Sävert of his encounter with a whirlwind in a village near Itzehoe. Sävert is a meteorologist and operates the website Tornadoliste.de, on which every (possible) cyclone in this country is registered, described and classified. There were 43 confirmed tornadoes in Germany last year, plus six plausible whirlwinds and 142 suspected cases. In 2023 there have been eleven confirmed tornadoes so far.