After a quiet start to the week with summery temperatures, thunderstorms and showers are expected on Tuesday. All weather reports at a glance.
Monday, September 5, 7:05 a.m .: According to the authorities, the major fire on the Brocken in the Harz Mountains has not spread further. The fire behavior was stable on Monday night, a spokesman for the Harz district announced in the morning. The fire-fighting planes and helicopters were supposed to take off again around 9 a.m. to put out the fire.
It was discovered on Saturday around 2.30 p.m. on the so-called Goetheweg near the Goethebahnhof vantage point. The cause of the fire is still unclear. The Goetheweg to the Brocken is one of the most frequented hiking trails in the Harz National Park.
According to the district, the burning forest area, on which mainly dead spruce trees are, had grown to a size of around 150 hectares (1.5 square kilometers) on Sunday. The authorities assume that the extinguishing work will take several days.
12:53 p.m .: Because of a forest fire near Schierke in the Harz National Park, the Brocken plateau and the immediate area around the Brocken have been closed. The fire that broke out on Saturday spread during the night of Sunday and was “not under control,” said the city of Wernigerode. The district administrator of the district of Harz, Thomas Balcerowski (CDU), declared the disaster.
According to the information, 62 hectares were covered by the forest fire by Sunday. Because of the fire, numerous hikers and visitors were brought to safety on the Brocken on Saturday. The fire reportedly broke out in an area that was difficult to access. As the city announced on Sunday, the town of Schierke is not threatened.
A total of 300 emergency services and five helicopters were deployed to fight the fire. Dozens of police officers secured the Brocken area and the access roads. Two firefighting planes from abroad should arrive on Sunday afternoon. The district assumed extinguishing work lasting several days.
Only about three weeks ago there was a fire in the Harz near the Brocken on about 13 hectares. Around 200 firefighters were on duty at the time.
10.35 a.m .: After a summery and cheerful start to the week, showers and thunderstorms come to Germany and the temperatures drop. “The temperature curve is gradually pointing downwards in the second half of the week,” said the German Weather Service on Saturday. The risk of showers and thunderstorms is increasing and the drought should finally be alleviated across the board.
According to the meteorologists, after the fog has cleared, it will initially remain mostly clear and dry on Sunday. In the course of the day, cumulus clouds will appear and there will be a risk of showers, especially in the mountains. In the northeast and east, temperatures rise to 21 to 25 degrees, otherwise to 24 to 29 degrees. During the night it sometimes cools down to below ten degrees.
On Monday it will remain mostly dry. In the north there are not only sun but also compact cloud fields. Otherwise there will be a lot of sun at first and then cumulus clouds over the course of the day. There is only a risk of showers and thunderstorms in the extreme south-west and in the mountains. The temperatures sometimes break the 30 degree mark again. In the northeast and on the coasts, they rise to 22 to 25 degrees.
The weather will be more uncomfortable on Tuesday. Almost nationwide, the showers and thunderstorm activity with heavy rain is reviving and there is also a risk of severe weather locally. This does not apply to the south-east and the extreme north-east. It will be mostly muggy with temperatures of 25 to 29 degrees. In the north and northeast it stays a little cooler at 20 to 25 degrees.
Sunday, September 4th, 10:05 a.m .: The forest fire on the Brocken has spread further. In the meantime, an area of 62 hectares is burning in the Harz Mountains. The fire got out of control on Saturday. People on the summit had to be brought to safety. Read more about this here.
7:39 p.m .: Thunderstorms are coming from the southwest on Saturday afternoon. The German Weather Service (DWD) therefore warns of heavy rain in parts of Bavaria and in the far west of Rhineland-Palatinate. Warning level two (orange) applies. Amounts of precipitation of 15 to 25 liters per square meter and small-grain hail are expected. Wind gusts from force seven to peaks of around 80 km/h can also occur.
In Bavaria, the districts from Würzburg in the west to Kulmbach in the north and Kehlheim in the south are affected. The warning also applies to the extreme south in Traunstein and in Berchtesgadener Land. There is also a warning in the Main-Tauber district (Baden-Württemberg) and in the Bitburg-Prüm Trier-Saarburg district (Rhineland-Palatinate).
Saturday, September 03, 2022, 6:42 p.m .: The German weather service warns of severe thunderstorms with heavy rain and hailstorms for Saturday afternoon in southern Germany. Severe weather warning level three out of four currently applies in these districts:
Bayern:
Wednesday, August 31, 2022, 9:46 a.m .: The Rhineland-Palatinate civil protection and disaster control is to be realigned. Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) will present the plans for this on Wednesday (2:30 p.m.) in Mainz. According to the ministry, the flood disaster that killed at least 135 people hit the country harder than any natural disaster before it. But also drought-related forest and vegetation fires as well as record low water levels like this summer are forcing society to rethink. In addition to the effects of climate change, there is also a changed view of civil defense – as a result of the Russian attack in Ukraine.
The Ministry of the Interior announced that the knowledge of experts inside and outside of Rhineland-Palatinate was incorporated into the plans of the state government for the realignment. In particular, the former President of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, Albrecht Broemme, gave numerous impetus. Among other things, he had suggested the establishment of a state office for civil protection and disaster prevention. In addition, in his opinion, every district and every municipality must set up operational crisis management teams at any time.
The state parliament’s commission of inquiry on this topic intends to present initial recommendations in the autumn. The 17-member Enquete Commission “Future Strategies for Disaster Preparedness” was set up after the flood disaster of July 14, 2021.
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