By Kalte Sonne

Clearly too warm and too dry, says the monthly report of the German Weather Service DWD. As always, the DWD works with two reference periods. Compared to the old one, June 2022 was 3 degrees Celsius too warm, compared to the current one it was 2 degrees warmer.

“The average temperature in June 2022 was 18.4 degrees Celsius (°C), 3.0 degrees above the value of the internationally valid reference period 1961 to 1990. Compared to the current and warmer period 1991 to 2020, the deviation was plus 2.0 degrees. This makes the Rose Month 2022 the sixth warmest since measurements began. The warmest June was 2019 with 19.8 °C. If you were looking for a fresh breeze, you were in the right place on the coasts. Otherwise, the temperatures regularly fluctuated between comfortable warmth and annoying heat. Especially the East reported sweltering hot days with new June records in Saxony and Brandenburg. on the 19th, the DWD measured 39.2 °C in both Dresden-Strehlen and Cottbus. These were the highest values in Germany. On the other hand, the national low of 2nd with 1.1 in Gilserberg-Moischeid, 25 km northeast of Marburg, felt almost “icy”.

There were large differences in precipitation. Overall, a third less rain fell than the average, if you take the old comparison period, compared to the current one it was 20% less precipitation. There was a lot of rain in the south of Germany, very little in the east. An article on ORF fits thematically with this. There it is about the temperatures on the ground and at a height of 2 meters.

“A new database on soil and near-surface temperatures worldwide shows that temperatures in upper soil layers sometimes deviate greatly from the usual measurements at a height of around two meters. In cooler or drier regions, the earth is often much warmer than the air, but in warm and humid areas it is slightly cooler.”

…
“In warmer and wetter regions, the soils were on average a bit cooler. The scientists found differences between 0.7 and 2.7 degrees Celsius in tropical savannahs, forests in warmer regions or tropical rainforests. Not surprisingly, it was found that it had a significant effect on soil temperatures when an area was more heavily forested.”

The article refers to the study “Global maps of soil temperature“.