A new heat wave has Germany firmly in its grip. The thermometer showed up to 38 degrees at the weekend. In Brandenburg, the bull heat led to severe forest fires. On Monday there is a risk of showers and thunderstorms with temperatures remaining high. Follow all important weather reports here in our ticker.
Wednesday. June 22, 2022, 12:15 p.m .: Sunshine and warm temperatures, but also the risk of severe weather will remain in Germany for the next few days. The German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach announced on Wednesday that local flooding and flooded basements are possible due to heavy rain. It will remain dry in any case in the east, and the risk of forest fires remains high.
On Thursday, the sun will shine in many places with temperatures between 27 and 32 degrees. In the west and southwest, individual showers and thunderstorms with heavy rain will set in in the afternoon and evening, thunderstorms are possible locally. “Especially on the night of Friday, there is a threat of a strong thunderstorm complex from Baden-Württemberg via Rhineland-Palatinate to Hesse, with sometimes prolonged heavy rainfall up to the severe weather area,” said meteorologist Robert Hausen.
On Friday there is still a risk of heavy rain and hail in the west with muggy temperatures of 25 to 30 degrees. East of the Elbe it will remain sunny and dry with temperatures up to 34 degrees. In the night to Saturday there is a risk of severe weather due to heavy rain, especially in the south-east and in the Alps. The weather calms down on Saturday, it stays mostly dry at 25 to 30 degrees.
Tuesday, June 21, 11:40 a.m.: Thunderstorms will repeatedly disturb the friendly early summer weather in the next few days. Storms with heavy rain are also possible locally, the German weather service (DWD) in Offenbach announced on Tuesday. This does not change the general risk of forest fires. Because the rain is only pounding in some places, but mostly it stays dry. “The risk is high across the board, it’s still very dangerous,” said a meteorologist.
On Wednesday there will be widespread sunshine with temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees, only in the south it will be heavily clouded. Again and again there are showers, it can be thunderstorms and heavy rain. “Locally there is a risk of overflowing cellars again,” said the DWD. The weather only calms down slowly during the night. On Thursday it will be even warmer at 27 to 32 degrees, and the sun will often appear. In the southwest half, however, thunderstorms with heavy rain and local storms are possible.
It will be muggy on Friday, the temperatures will climb to 34 degrees. At the same time, the probability of thunderstorms increases almost all over Germany, especially in the west. Storms are threatening again, with heavy rain and hail coming down. Heavy gusts of wind are also possible locally.
3:57 a.m .: The devastating forest fires in Brandenburg near Beelitz and Treuenbrietzen have been extinguished – but the fire brigade must continue to keep the embers in the forest areas under control. These sit up to 70 centimeters deep in the ground and could stay there for weeks, said the spokeswoman for the Potsdam Mittelmark district, Andrea Metzler. The fire could be reignited in dry and windy conditions, so firefighters would continue to monitor the situation closely.
On Monday, 230 firefighters had watered the fire areas. These should also stay the night, said Metzler in the evening. Temperatures should rise again on Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 21, 3:03 a.m .: During a severe hailstorm in Bavaria, a 53-year-old cyclist from Baden-Württemberg was killed by a falling tree. He and his wife were surprised by the storm on a bike path in Moosburg in the Upper Bavarian district of Freising, said the head of the police department in Moosburg, Christian Bidinger. A falling tree hit him fully on Monday evening. His wife was unharmed.
There were large amounts of hailstones on sidewalks and roads. The German Weather Service (DWD) had warned of extreme thunderstorms in Upper and Lower Bavaria and declared the highest warning level 4. Staying outdoors should be avoided.
6:44 p.m .: In Munich, the thunderstorm was so strong on Monday afternoon that the power went out in 3,000 households in the Bogenhausen district. This is reported by the “Abendzeitung”. The security service is already on site “to restore the supply as quickly as possible,” said the municipal works on Twitter. It is still unclear how long the power outage will last, the newspaper said. However, no more households would be affected.
5:57 p.m .: The heat storms have weakened in many Bavarian counties in the course of the afternoon. The German Weather Service is currently warning of thunderstorms with hurricane gusts in the district and city of Passau and the district of Rottal-Inn. In the districts around Munich, warnings of severe thunderstorms are now being given at level two instead of level three.
5:01 p.m .: The thunderstorms in Bavaria are expanding. In four districts, the German weather service even warns of severe thunderstorms with hurricane gusts, heavy rain and hail at level 4.
These four circles are affected:
4.40 p.m .: In southern Germany, the German weather service warns of severe thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail on Monday afternoon. There is heavy heavy rain with precipitation amounts between 30 l/m² and 40 l/m² in a short time as well as heavy gusts of wind with speeds of around 90 km/h and hail with grain sizes of around 2 cm. In Baden-Württemberg, some districts are affected by extreme heat.
Here you can find out where there are warnings about thunderstorms and extreme heat in Germany:
Extreme weather in Germany – warning of extreme thunderstorms in Bavaria and heat in Baden-Wüttemberg
3:50 p.m .: Rain finally caused the decisive turnaround in the fight against forest fires in Brandenburg: heavy rainfall contained the flames on hundreds of hectares in forest areas near Beelitz and Treuenbrietzen southwest of Berlin on Monday. “There is really no longer any danger for the localities,” said the spokeswoman for the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, Andrea Metzler, in the morning.
More than 600 people were able to return to their homes in three districts of Treuenbrietzen. This was announced by the local authorities. In Beelitz, too, the residents of three streets that had been evacuated as a precaution were able to go home. However, hundreds of firefighters continued to work. Because wind could fan the deep-seated embers in the forests again.
2:51 p.m .: In view of the forest fires in Brandenburg, Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) calls on the federal government to help with military contamination. “Our main problem was the military burden on the areas where these fires broke out,” said Woidke on Monday in Schönefeld. Firefighters could not have entered some of them. “We have to get to this main problem,” said Woidke.
“We have forests somewhere between 150 and 200 hectares around Berlin that are heavily militarily polluted,” said Woidke. He spoke of “incendiary bombs” for forest fires. “It’s ammunition from 150 years of German history that can be found there.” The federal government must act urgently, Brandenburg can only solve the task together with the federal government.
The Bundeswehr is providing additional helicopters to continue fighting the forest fires near Treuenbrietzen and Beelitz in Brandenburg. In addition to the three CH-53s already deployed, five army NH-90s are also ready for firefighting operations, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said on Monday. They could be retrieved should this become necessary. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) also got an idea of the situation on Monday. After rainfall, the situation with the forest fires had initially eased significantly.
7:26 a.m .: The situation in the forest fire area near Beelitz looks much better on Monday morning. It did not have to be evacuated further and the fire lines could be held, said the mayor of Beelitz Bernhard Knuth (independent) on Monday morning. “It looks a lot more relaxed,” Knuth said.
Among other things, the fact that it started to rain in Beelitz contributed to the relaxation. First, 135 hectares of forest burned at night near Treuenbrietzen – 80 kilometers southwest of Berlin, as local authorities reported. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. the rain got heavier and heavier. The rain radar also showed rain and thunderstorms for the next few hours.
In Beelitz and Treuenbrietzen, the fire brigade is fighting forest fires that broke out on Friday. Changing winds had caused the fire to spread rapidly. 600 people had to be evacuated.
Monday, 6:11 a.m .: After the heat, the week starts with rain on the last day of spring in large parts of Germany. The German weather service announced early Monday morning that showers and sometimes heavy thunderstorms were to be expected in the central parts of the country well into the morning.
In the south and southeast it will remain mostly dry for the time being. In the course of the day there will also be individual showers in the north and east. In the afternoon, individual, sometimes strong thunderstorms can also be expected in the south, which will move towards the Alps in the evening. It should be 17 to 24 degrees in the northern half, 27 to 33 degrees in the very south.
On the night of Tuesday there will be individual showers or thunderstorms in the north-east and in the very south, which will then subside quickly. It’s getting cooler, the lows are between seven and ten degrees.
9:47 p.m .: There are “currently two large locations” in his district, said the District Administrator of Potsdam Mittelmark Marko Köhler (SPD) at around 8:40 p.m. in the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”. The situation in Treuenbrietzen has “stabilized”, the situation in Beelitz is “actually out of control”.
Task forces from Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt and the Bundeswehr would now be fighting the fires with four helicopters. Individual locations and small streets in Beelitz have been evacuated, the Beelitz hospital can currently continue to work normally. Even in Treuenbrietzen, the prepared evacuation of the hospital has not yet become necessary. He hopes for rain and calm, said Köhler.
You can find more information about the weather on the following pages.
