The frequent swimmers swipe their cards through the reader at the entrance and hurry towards the changing rooms. Some greet briefly in the direction of the ticket booth, where a friendly man is sitting in the Schyrenbad – who is quite lonely and underemployed on this rainy Saturday. By 2 p.m., just 80 people had scurried past him. The man behind the glass wall assumes that there will probably be around 140 by the evening. The outdoor pool in Untergiesing closes at 7 p.m. in bad weather. “Air 15 degrees, water 24 degrees” is written on a plaque. So it’s more pleasant in the pools than outside, but visitors still stay away when the meadows are soaking wet.
The Munich outdoor pools and the bathing lakes in the city and in the surrounding area offer a sad picture on this August weekend. Only sporty swimmers braved the rain, such as the young man who did a few laps in the Riemer See in a protective neoprene suit. The beach volleyball field, on the other hand, is completely deserted. What’s up with this summer?
Fancy beach volleyball? Not in this weather.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
However, a call to the German weather service puts the assumption that this crappy weather is quite unusual in the summer holidays into perspective. “It seems wet, but that wasn’t actually the case this summer. We’ve forgotten what it used to be like in this country,” says the meteorologist responsible for Munich. Compared to the summers of 20 years ago, it is now far too dry. A few rainy days, even in August, don’t shock the expert, who backs it up with a few numbers.
The German Weather Service compares with reference periods from 1961 to 1990 and from 1991 to 2020. It shows that June and July this year were hotter and drier than in the past. In July 2023, an average of 21 degrees was measured. From 1991 to 2020, the value in this month averaged only 19.6 degrees, says the meteorologist. There were five days in July this year when it was hotter than 30 degrees. This number is also higher than in the past. The consistently warm summer weeks that we have had in recent years are actually not normal for our climate zone. “The climate is out of balance.”
Not only the Munich residents who stayed at home should be annoyed by the rainy weather, but also many organizers who planned their events under the open sky in the hope of sun. From Friday to Sunday, for example, the “Munich Sessions Summerfest” took place on the Rindermarkt, where a large stage was set up. Many large umbrellas protected halfway from the downpours. A charming advantage here: the stony ground cannot turn into mud. Accordingly, quite a few people took advantage of the free concert offer.
During the music summer in the Theatron at the Olympiasee, which lasts until August 20th, it is less comfortable with showers. Here you have to bring your own umbrella or sit under the plastic poncho. When dancing in front of the stage, it’s rather damp, in the surrounding meadows anyway.
In the beer gardens, on the cultural beach on the Corneliusbrücke or along the Isar, it was correspondingly dreary this weekend. Munich’s river, which is so popular on hot days, is currently flowing through the city in an unusually dark green colour. The water level on Saturday was an average of 209 centimeters, with 240 centimeters reporting level one would be reached, writes the flood news service Bavaria on its website. A few tree trunks that have been swept away are lying across the Isar in the city area. They make rafting and swimming dangerous.
The Auer Dult also suffers from the rain
The weather at the last weekend was also a problem for the stand operators at the Auer Dult. “More water drips from the sky than people on the Dult,” says a frustrated antiques dealer. “But what are you supposed to do,” says the colleague next to him. If you want to protect your goods, you have to cover and cover them again and again. On Saturday afternoon, large puddles form in the alley of rarities and in front of the fairground rides.
“It still pays off for us,” explains Nicole Bachleitner, the cheerful boss of the wood manufacturer from the Black Forest that sells “lunch boards”. She is also on Tollwood and has endured constant rain and heat waves there. You like the Dult audience. “It’s so down-to-earth here.” As soon as the sky clears up just a little bit, the visitors can be seen again immediately, eating sausages from a bread roll or Baumstriezel.
According to the meteorologists of the German Weather Service, this “changeable period” will probably continue for a few more days. From Wednesday the thermometer should climb to around 25 degrees. Next weekend it could get warm like midsummer again.