Christmas is just around the corner! What are the chances that we will wake up to a crisp white blanket on the mornings of December 24, 25 and 26 this year in Germany?
Christmas Day is just one week away, but the temperature is warming. According to the German Weather Service (DWD), warm air will move across the country this week and bring temperatures as high as 12 degrees celsius.
Temperatures will drop again come the evening of December 19 and 20, before falling to lows of 2 degrees and highs of 8 degrees.
While meteorologist Sabine Krüger has warned that fresh snow will coat some of the German mountains, we should expect a wet Christmas rather than a white one on December 24, 25 and 26.
While the weather could still turn, rainfall is expected in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart on December 25. Meanwhile, Müncheners will see intermittent sunshine.
Unsurprisingly, climate change means white Christmases are becoming more rare in Germany. The DWD predicts that people in Germany can now expect a white Christmas over December 24, 25 and 26 only once every 10 years.
Comparing the period between 1961-1990 and 1991-2020, the likelihood that the majority of people in Germany would see snow between December 24 and 26 has now halved.
In the first period, people in Munich had a 33 percent chance of seeing a white Christmas, this dropped to 14 percent in the second period. In Freiburg, the chances have dropped from almost 17 percent to 5 percent.
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