Lousy Station Siting: Swirling Controversy Surrorunds Germany’s Latest “New Alltime Record High” Temperature

Full of shite!

Germany’s Saarbrücken alltime record high temperature measurement was recoded at a station located at a sewage treatment facility in the middle of a commercial district. 

Since the extreme heatwave has begun to grip Europe, media and alarmists have been falling over each other proclaiming proof of the manmade climate catastrophe.

Headlines about Germany’s new alltime record high, set yesterday in Saarbrücken, are every where. But already doubts are swirling about the station’s measurement intergrity due to its alleged poor siting – right at a large sewage treatment facility in the middle of a commercial district!

The station in question is located at Mettlacher Str. 1, 66115 Saarbrücken-West. Google Maps pinpoints this location:

Google Maps view of terrain:

The red marker above pinpoints the address. Everywhere, we find steel and concrete buildings, asphalt surfaces. From the image, the station’s exact placement cannot be determined.

However, an online article in the Saarbrücker Zeitung reveals a troublesome history regarding the Saarbrücken-Burbach station and its latest “record”. Firstly, the announced figure is still strictly preliminary and has not been officially certified as a national record by the DWD German national weather service, which must first conduct a thorough quality check. This investigation will verify whether local microclimate factors—such as heat accumulation from poor air circulation, nearby reflective structures, or specific equipment exposure—might have artificially inflated the reading. This verification process typically takes several days to weeks.

Poor station siting 

The Saarbrücken site has a history of measurement controversy. The Saarbrücker Zeitung reports that even the mayor has expressed doubts about the station’s recordings. While the exact quote from the mayor is currently behind a paywall, the station’s placement has long since been considered less than optimal for establishing clean, regional records. There are three reasons for cited this:

1. For an official weather station to provide accurate regional data, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) states it should ideally be located on a flat, open space (like a large lawn) away from direct artificial heat sources. This record setting station does not even come close to fulfilling this requirement.
2. The Burbach station is nestled within a relatively dense urban and industrial environment in Saarbrücken-West, surrounded by asphalt roads, rooftops, and concrete structures. These materials act like a thermal sponge—absorbing massive amounts of solar radiation during the day and radiating it back out as heat, which can artificially inflate local temperature readings during extreme heatwaves.
3. Because it is located in a built-up area, natural wind circulation is restricted. Without a steady breeze to mix the air, stagnant pockets of extreme heat can build up directly around the measuring sensor, causing sudden, localized spikes.

This is not the first time that media-hyped temperature records have been found to be totally erronenous.

Faulty Lingen record of 2019

Back in 2019, a (poorly-sited) station in Lingen allegedly reported a new alltime German record high temperature of 42.6°C, smashing the previos record of 40.3°C by more than a whopping two degrees! Later, amid much controversy, the DWD was forced to throw the Lingen record out.

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