Foreign

THIS summer in Germany has been the sunniest on record, according to the country’s DWD meteorological service.

“It is the sunniest summer since periods of sunshine have been recorded so far since 1951,” DWD meteorologist, Andreas Friedrich, said.

Friedrich said this ahead of the bureau’s preliminary assessment, which was due to be released on Tuesday.

“What we are seeing is a manifestation of global warming,” Friedrich added.

Meteorologists had recorded 817 hours of sunshine for the season, which included measurements already taken and estimates up to the end of August.

The country’s previous record was 793.3 hours nationwide in the summer of 2003.

The DWD is announcing its assessment results from around 2,000 weather stations ahead of the start of autumn on Sept. 1.

Temperature and rainfall were recorded in Germany for around 140 years.

Nevertheless, while this year is likely to be among Germany’s hottest, it wouldn’t be the hottest ever, Friedrich said.

He added that it would likely rank between the second and fifth hottest summer since German records began.

It would be the driest summer on record for many regions, according to the DWD, but not nationwide.

While the summer was clearly too dry, it did not rank as one of Germany’s top three driest summers, Friedrich said.

Preliminary figures show that this year had the sixth warmest June in Germany since records began and an average temperature of 19.2 degrees Celsius in July.

This is 2.3 degrees above the internationally accepted reference years from 1961 to 1990. (dpa/NAN)

KN

Tags: Andreas Friedrich DWD meteorological service