Enlarge image
Sensitive to frost: magnolia in the Würzburg courtyard garden (archive image)
Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa
The beginning of spring in March does not always mean warmer temperatures.
At least April has been reliable in recent years: April 2018, with an average temperature of 12.3 degrees, was the warmest since weather records began in Germany.
The last two years were also well above the long-term average with values of 9.6 and 10.2 degrees.
This year, however, it is becoming apparent that the month is likely to be below the temperature norm of the long-term average.
It could even turn out to be the coldest April month in the last 30 years.
The preliminary balance of the German Weather Service (DWD) is due at the end of the week.
According to the website “Wetterkontor.de”, the average temperatures are currently well below the average for the previous 30 years.
For the internationally valid reference period 1961 to 1990 the average value was 7.4 degrees, in the warmer reference period 1991 to 2020 it was nine degrees.
»No sign of questioning global warming«
"Of course, this is not a sign of questioning global warming," emphasized DWD spokesman Andreas Friedrich.
There are always short-term fluctuations such as a significantly cooler April.
The DWD had already announced on Sunday that this April there were already more frost days than ever before.
fek / dpa