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Two women sit on a jetty at the Lieblsee in Bavaria
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Armin Weigel / dpa
Some are happy about the bathing weather, others groan because of the heat: Very warm air from the Mediterranean area caused the highest temperatures of the year to date in many German cities on Wednesday.
In particular, peak values were achieved in the west and south-west, as reported by the German Weather Service (DWD).
These would likely be exceeded on Thursday, said a DWD spokeswoman.
It was warmest on Wednesday with 33.9 degrees Celsius near Speyer, in the village of Waghäusel-Kirrlach.
With a lot of sunshine, the maximum temperatures across Germany were between 26 and 33 degrees.
On the other hand, it was cooler at 21 to 25 degrees Celsius on the coasts.
"The reason for this is the water temperature of 16 to 19 degrees in the North and Baltic Seas," said the DWD.
As a result, the air was not able to heat up as much.
Tropical nights
Elsewhere, it stayed very warm at night, and according to the DWD, the first tropical night of the year took place in several places.
Meteorologists speak of tropical nights when temperatures do not drop below 20 degrees even at night.
The highest nighttime low temperature was therefore in Bad Lippspringe in North Rhine-Westphalia.
At no point did it get colder than 22 degrees there.
In Gevelsberg, also in North Rhine-Westphalia, the temperature minimum was 21.5 degrees.
At 21.4 degrees, Bremerhaven was third on the nightly temperature list.
According to the information, it was "around 20 degrees" above all in the Ruhr area, but also on the Saar and in the Cologne / Bonn region.
The meteorologists assume that Friday night will again be a tropical night.
According to the meteorologists, on Thursday there could be isolated thunderstorms with storms, hail and heavy rain in the west and northwest.
The maximum values are likely to be 30 to 36 degrees, on the islands it remains significantly cooler.
Showers and thunderstorms can be expected again on Friday.
There are also local heat thunderstorms in the Alps.
Otherwise it remains summery and dry.
The heat hotspot is then probably in the east of the country, with up to 37 degrees.
Meanwhile, the risk of forest fires is also increasing.
In order to recognize the fire early, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt rely on the use of two small aircraft.
The Cessnas, which are manned by a pilot, an observer and a forester, are to fly their routes in some areas of the federal states from Thursday and look out for smoke, said Thomas Friedhoff, a consultant for the Lower Saxony fire brigade service.
The planes should take off in Lüneburg and Hildesheim, according to Friedhoff.
Depending on the weather situation and the level of the forest fire, they then fly five different routes and can also take a targeted look at areas that appear suspicious.
In the past year, 23 fires could have been discovered at an early stage.
The earlier the fire is located, the easier it is to extinguish the fire and the less damage it causes to the environment.
There are also similar observation flights in other federal states.
On Thursday, the machines of the Lower Saxony Fire Brigade Association could start for the first time this year.
That depends on whether the forest fire level 5 is reached.
However, it is considered likely - especially in the Harz, said Friedhoff.
Fire monitoring via aircraft should then be discontinued in October at the latest.
bbr / dpa