The last few days German meteorologists and media have been falling all over themselves in forecasting a possible ALL-TIME record high to hit Germany today. The current all-time high is 40.2°C set in 2003.
Well, it’s now 3 pm and so let’s look how close we are getting to setting that new, all-time record high…if we haven’t already!
Where I live, the temperature is 24°C. Doesn’t look like the all-time record high is going to be set here today.
So let’s look further east, where the blowtorch heat is really supposed to hit.
In Hannover it’s 27°C.
In Berlin it’s 33°C.
In Regensburg it’s 34°C.
Hmmm…what’s going on? So far nothing that is even remotely close to the 40.2°C all-time record high. Maybe this website here will help us find that new all-time record high we supposed to see today.
Here we see that the top temperature right now in Germany is 34.9°C in Konstanz. That’s more than 5°C below the all-time high we were supposed to reach today! Maybe I just need to be patient and wait an hour or so. Maybe the thermometer in Konstanz will jump a whole 5.3°C.
Clearly what we have just witnessed here is Germany’s forecasting debacle of the year, if not the decade. How come the forecasts, which were as recent as yesterday, were so far off? We’re not talking about being off by 1 or 2°C, but 5°C!
I’m going to write a longer commentary on this tomorrow. What we’ve had is an all-time record hyped temperature. Hysteria sweeps across Germany’s institutions again.
Perhaps they borrowed the UK metoffices computer?
“40.2°C set in 2003”
Sounds fake, exactly where was it set?
Karlsruhe – 2003
Freiburg – 2003
Gärmersdorf – 1983
Do you have photos of the location of the thermometers?
Hot temperatures are not unusual in Central Europe. The huge Sahara desert is south of us and from time to time, when the weather systems are just right, we get a nice blast of Saharan air coming over. I have not one bit of skepticism when it comes to the integrity of the data you question. You may be able to locate the station with Google. Scroll down at this website: http://www.wetter24.de/deutschland/wetter-stationen/obsid/10731.html. I’m certainly not going to drive all the way down there to check it. Do let us know if you find a photo of the station. Could be a surprise.
Here’s the axct location: http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/appmanager/bvbw/dwdwwwDesktop/?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=dwdwww_result_page&portletMasterPortlet_i1gsbDocumentPath=Navigation%2FLandwirtschaft%2FLeistungen%2FStationslisten%2FStListe__BW__node.html%3F__nnn%3Dtrue (Rheinstetten – Karlsruhe)
Google maps pointed me to a suburban area with plenty of heat sources, but I was not able to locate an object that looks like a station.
It’s possible; we had 36 deg C last week in the Frankfurt area where I currently work.
The answer will come…someone is outside, holding a mercury bulb thermometer in the sun and squeezing on the bulb.
Oh, wait…normal human temperature is only 37°C, isn’t it?
Oh well, they’ll keep trying.
It is posssible that the forecast will be remembered, and the actual never registers in the public consciousness.
“Merkel’s Green Shift Backfires As German CO2 Emissions Jump”
http://www.thegwpf.org/merkels-green-shift-backfires-german-co2-emissions-jump/
“Germany’s rise in CO2 emissions is set to worsen for a second year, the first back-to-back increase since at least the 1980s, after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to shut nuclear plants led utilities to burn more coal.”