Weather in Germany: Expert explains coldest April in 30 years - and dampens May hopes

Winter will drag on for an unusually long time in 2021 - and a meteorologist from the German Weather Service warns: May could also be cool.

Offenbach - April was definitely not like spring.

It will return to weather history as the frostiest April in 30 years.

We talked about it with Andreas Friedrich from the

German Weather Service (DWD)

.

This April teaches us how to shiver, Mr. Friedrich.

It is sure to go down in the history books.

In the last three years we had three extremely mild April months, well above the long-term average.

The year 2018 stood out because this month had an average temperature of 12.3 degrees and was the warmest April since regular weather records began in 1881. This year we have fallen back into a too cold April for many years.

We are not quite finished yet, but with the interim status on Monday we have an average temperature in Germany of 5.9 degrees and are thus well below the long-term average.

Where is it?

When it comes to climate change issues, we always consider a reference period to which the “too cold” and “too warm” refer.

That is the period from 1961 to 1990. After that, the mean throughout Germany is 7.4 degrees.

That would be a normal April.

And now we're at 5.9.

That can change by one or two tenths.

So it looks like April 2021 will be more than one degree colder than the target value.

And you have to look back a long way: We experienced the last “too cold April” in 2001.

Every April for 20 years has been warmer than the “normal value” from the reference period.

When was the last time it was colder than this April?

I have to look back a little further.

It has not been as cold in April as this year for over 30 years.

In 1980 it was 6 degrees, I assume that this year we will be just over 6 degrees.

So it's the coldest April since 1980. That's extraordinary.

Why is that?

It is due to the general weather situation, the large-shaped current over Europe.

We were repeatedly lying in a northerly air current that allowed air to flow from polar latitudes to Germany.

It's very cold.

Even the sun of the last few days doesn't help.

Many people are freezing: This is because the air comes from the Arctic.

As a result, it is far too cold for the time of year, the sunshine cannot heat the air more than 10 to 15 degrees.

This weather situation is very constant and has led to the fact that we have felt this too cold weather since Easter.

There was also a lot of snow.

With this cold air, humid air masses came to us again and again over the North Sea and the North Sea.

Some of the precipitation can fall as snow as far as the lowlands.

The Alps stand in the way of the cold air masses like a barrier, where the moist air accumulates and really snows itself off.

Isn't it actually getting warmer due to climate change?

This trend, which we notice with the climate, always relates to 30-year mean values.

We see that April is getting significantly warmer.

But that doesn't mean that it follows this general trend every year.

There are fluctuations and that is what we are currently experiencing.

It can happen again and again that a month that is too cold occurs.

But that doesn't contradict global warming.

What was the lowest and what was the highest temperature?

The lowest value was on April 6th with minus 21.9 degrees on the Zugspitze and minus 10.5 degrees in Oberstdorf on April 9th.

The highest value was on April 1st was 25.9 degrees in Müllheim south of Freiburg.

In the week before Easter we had already declared summer with 27 degrees on March 31st.

It has never been so warm in Germany on March 31st.

Can we look forward to a sunny May now?

We can only predict for seven to ten days at a time.

And after that it looks like May will also start undercooled.

There can also be night frosts again.

Interview: Claudia Möllers