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Flooded street (archive image): The storm could cause massive damage
Photo: IMAGO/Gottfried Czepluch
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), Germany is very likely to face an "extreme storm" with thunderstorms, hail and storms on Friday.
According to a DWD meteorologist, the highest warning level (level 4) should be declared in many places: "There is a risk of massive damage where the thunderstorm complex is long," said the weather researcher in Offenbach.
So-called supercells are likely to form as a result – rotating systems with strong updrafts that move completely independently and are therefore difficult to predict.
There are also “ideal conditions” for tornadoes.
Thunderstorm locations still unclear
According to the DWD, the middle of Germany in particular is affected by the storm on Friday.
According to the information, exactly where the thunderstorms will discharge can only be said with certainty a few hours in advance.
SPIEGEL weather expert Jörg Kachelmann warns: "Don't drive into flooded sections of road.
Avoid trees and all flying objects in thunderstorms.
Don't be a target for lightning, it likes to strike you right in the middle if you're standing next to a tall tree or house.
See a tornado - go to the next basement!'
In Emsland, the German Weather Service (DWD) expected showers and thunderstorms on Thursday morning, in the west and north-west as well as in the Black Forest and on the Alps, especially from the afternoon.
There can also be storms with heavy rain of up to 40 liters per square meter, storm or hurricane gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour and hailstones three centimeters in size.
The reason for the thunderstorms is a warm and increasingly very humid air mass coming from the west.
During the day it gets muggy to hot, with temperatures of up to 27 and 32 degrees.
In the southeast and east of Germany, on the other hand, it will be sunny and dry on Thursday.
ptz/dpa