Conclusion of the meteorologists
“Overall, significantly too warm”: German Weather Service publishes preliminary autumn results
The sun shines through a roof of colorful autumn leaves
© Hauke-Christian Dittrich / DPA
Autumn 2023 ends with a sudden onset of winter. Before that, according to the German Weather Service, the season was “quite mild, too humid and still sunny”. The conclusion of the meteorologists.
The German Weather Service (DWD) will present its preliminary balance sheet for autumn 2023 this Wednesday. This is about the results of around 2,000 measuring stations Germany, which records temperatures, precipitation and sunshine duration.
There are already indications that this year’s autumn will be significantly too warm despite the current onset of winter, according to the weather service in Offenbach. As of Tuesday, the average temperature for the season was around 2.8 percent above the average for the reference period from 1961 to 1990. In mid-September, temperatures of more than 30 degrees were still widely recorded, said meteorologist Andreas Walter.
According to previous values, precipitation was also above the average for the reference period. And: “When it comes to sunshine, we are – surprisingly – still above the long-term average of sunshine hours, although not so clearly,” said Walter. A preliminary conclusion could be: “Quite mild, too humid and still sunny.”
Autumn ends with the onset of winter
At the end of autumn, winter was already making its presence felt in many regions with cold temperatures and snow at exceptionally low altitudes. “This wintry situation is expected to remain the same for the next few days,” explained the meteorologist. “But we still assume that autumn 2023 will be significantly too warm overall.”
In order to compare statistics, meteorologists summarize the seasons into whole months: September, October and November form the meteorological autumn. In contrast, the calendar or astronomical beginning of autumn occurs when day and night are of equal length – this year on September 23rd.
The fall 2023 figures are scheduled to be published around lunchtime. Last year’s autumn was the third warmest autumn since nationwide measurements began in 1881, with an average temperature of 10.7 degrees.