As if Corona hadn't existed: New Year's Eve was celebrated so vigorously in your region

Created: 2023-01-02 18:14

By: Marie Ries, Philipp David Pries, Nils Tillmann

Particulate matter on New Year's Eve: The line chart shows the average values ​​since New Year's Day 2016. Only strong winds caused supposedly lower values.

© Litzka / Imago / PantherMedia (montage)

Fireworks like before the Corona pandemic: For the first time in 2022/2023 it was allowed to fire again.

We show how big the party mood was in your region.

And analyze leaders and unexpected outliers.

The two-year ban on the sale of rockets and firecrackers was barely over when the Germans were already celebrating like before.

This is shown by an evaluation of new data sets by the Federal Environment Agency.

Although the absolute values ​​of fine dust measured in 2023 were significantly lower on average, this can be explained by a different weather situation.

Due to the wind, the particles were carried away much faster, especially in the north.

Where were the most rockets and firecrackers fired on New Year's Eve?

Search in the table below for all German measuring stations for particulate matter.

In addition to traffic, this occurs primarily when fireworks explode.

The more micrograms per cubic meter of fine dust on New Year's Day, the more was usually blown into the air by fireworks.

On normal days, the values ​​are only a fraction.

So much particulate matter was generated in your region on New Year's Eve

In 2019/2020, on the other hand, the opposite phenomenon emerged with regard to the consequences: the so-called fog of horror ensured that fine dust remained near the ground for an unusually long time and was measured there.

This can be seen in many values ​​​​of this pre-Corona year.

In the end, however, all the values ​​and the table above show very reliably how badly celebrating with fireworks near a measuring station endangered people's health.

In 2023, as many firecrackers went over the counter as before the pandemic

New Year's Eve rockets and firecrackers are not only fundamentally harmful to health due to the noise they generate and injuries when handling them.

Least visible, but overall the most harmful is inhaling the resulting fine dust.

This is carcinogenic and can carry pollutants such as toxic heavy metals to the last ramifications of the lungs.

Fine dust is dangerous from the first microgram.

The limit value defined in the EU is that it must not exceed 50 micrograms per cubic meter more than 35 times a year at a station.

The sales figures also show that the Germans wanted to party like they did before Corona.

In 2022 almost as many rockets and firecrackers were bought as in 2019. This is shown by new preliminary figures from the Association of the Pyrotechnic Industry: 122 million euros in sales.

In the Corona years, on the other hand, it was only around 20 million euros.

And these came about exclusively through exports abroad or crackers, table fireworks, sparklers and the like used in the house without any noteworthy fine dust effect.

The fire brigade reports a sharp increase in the number of operations compared to the previous year

In addition to fine dust pollution, the number of fires has shot up again this year.

This is shown by the deployment numbers of fire brigades in many German cities.

In Munich, compared to the turn of the year last year, there were almost four times the number of bets.

But even compared to the time before Corona, the number of fires has increased in some cases.

In addition to Munich, the fire brigade in Berlin and Nuremberg, for example, are also reporting higher deployment numbers than on New Year's Eve 2019. In Mainz, where the average highest fine dust density was measured this year, the fire brigade even had to deploy 25 instead of 14 times.