April is a weather-changing month in which summer temperatures as well as a late onset of winter with icy cold are possible.
But why is that so?
We explain the weather phenomenon April.
Munich - The weather in Germany is probably the most exciting for meteorologists and weather enthusiasts in April.
The reason for this is the extreme weather caused by the change in weather from winter to summer, the cause of which can be determined by the position of the sun.
Sometimes violent reactions and temperature differences are shown by the fact that land masses heat up more than the still cold sea surfaces.
In addition, the higher position of the sun causes greater turbulence within the polar vortex, which is approaching its winter finale in April.
It is therefore also referred to as “final warming”.
The vegetation in April
At the end of March, the average temperature is above 5 degrees, which is crucial for the vegetation, because it only really starts from the five-degree mark, much to the chagrin of some allergy sufferers.
But it also shows that spring is slowly arriving in April.
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A flower in summer weather in April.
(Symbol image)
© Ben Voss
Check the April weather: extreme values between -14 and 33 degrees
The first summer days are possible from mid-April when the 25-degree mark is reached, but at some measuring stations along the Baltic Sea and at higher altitudes, a summer day has never been recorded.
The German highest value was recorded on April 28, 2012 with 32.9 degrees in Bad Mergentheim and Kitzingen (Main).
The coldest value was recorded in Cottbus on April 5, 1929, an ice day with -14.2 degrees.
Weather: Hours of sunshine and rainfall in April
In 2020 there was a record number of hours of sunshine.
Never before in April did the sun shine as often as in April 2020. In Saarland, the total hours of sunshine measured corresponded to about 10 hours a day.
Even if snow is always to be expected in April, a closed snow cover is becoming increasingly rare.
As expected, most of the precipitation was registered on the Zugspitze with 553 l / m2.
The average rainfall is 58 l / m2.
In 2007 there was no rainfall at all in some regions on the Rhine.
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Third driest April since weather records began (April 29, 2020)
© dpa-infografik GmbH
"Arctic Outbreak": The extreme weather event in April
The so-called "Arctic Outbreak" is the unstable polar vortex in which arctic air masses flow south.
Snowfalls, heavy squalls and, for example, sleet thunderstorms can occur here.
In the year 2021, April shows its icy side: A meteorologist explains the snow masses and the unpleasant wind.
Anomalies in the weather comparison of the year 2020 with other years in April
A look at the last 20 years shows: The temperatures were too warm in 80 percent of the cases and normal in 20 percent of the cases with -0.5 to +0.5.
In none of the cases was it too cold, by the way.
That shows pretty clearly - if you only look at the last 20 years - it's too warm.
In addition, the warmest April since weather records began in 2018 was recorded with a deviation of +5 degrees.
The coldest April so far was over a hundred years ago, in 1917 with a deviation of -3 degrees.
List of rubric lists: © Ben Voß
