Germany’s weather service issued its annual review of the past year’s weather on Tuesday, noting that the year was averagely wet, but much too warm to stay on track with global warming targets.
The German Weather Service, DWD, expressed its concern for the climate, stating that since the 1970s each decade has become progressively hotter than the last. DWD added that 2021 was the 11th year to be too warm in Germany.
The weather service added that the average temperature in Germany throughout 2021 was around 1 degree Celsius warmer than the reference temperatures recorded in the period between 1961 and 1990.
The effects of climate change were felt directly by the people of Germany in the summer of 2021, when almost 200 people were tragically killed due to the worst flooding to hit the country since 1962. The floods were seen across most of Western Europe, but hit Germany especially hard. They were later put down to extreme weather events caused by climate change.
Despite this, the DWD reports that 2021 was actually not a particularly wet year, since the spring and autumn were comparably dry, while the summer saw the peak of the rain. According to the head of the DWD's climate monitoring department, Andreas Becker, the heaviest precipitation in Germany usually occurs between the months of May and September, striking at any location in the country.
Becker also made a comment on the relationship between the current conflict in Eastern Europe and the climate crisis. The meteorologist added that now Germany has even more reasons to stop relying on fossil fuels - firstly due to the lack of energy security the country has faced following the outbreak of war, and secondly, due to climate change.