As of: March 10, 2024, 4:37 p.m
By: Katharina Brumbauer
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Volunteer weather observer Thomas Schneller from Oberammergau looks up precipitation and temperature data on his tablet every morning.
© Brumbauer
Thomas Schneller has been recording weather data for 45 years.
He has been involved with the German Weather Service for 25 years.
He will be honored on Tuesday.
Oberammergau – Every now and then questions about the weather come up at the dinner table with the Schneller family.
For example, whether it snowed last Christmas.
Or whether it rained a lot five years ago.
Thomas Schneller can then look in his books.
There he recorded the weather data from the past few years.
The Oberammergauer has been running a small weather station for 25 years.
She's standing outside, in front of his nursery on Feldiglgasse.
Every morning when he gets up, he looks at the transmitted temperature and precipitation values on the tablet.
He sends the information to the German Weather Service.
He does all of this on a voluntary basis.
Schneller will now be honored for his great commitment on Tuesday.
Detlef Aßmann, Head of Regional Location Management South of the Weather Service in Munich, presented him with the Weather Service plaque in the presence of Oberammergau Mayor Andreas Rödl (CSU).
Thomas Schneller from Oberammergau observes the weather: He will be honored on Tuesday
When asked about it, Schneller waves it off.
“Actually, it’s not important to me at all,” explains the Oberammergauer.
“I'm just doing it for myself and I don't have to do a lot of work with it.” The station records most of the data itself - and transfers the information to his tablet.
Schneller then sends the evaluations to the weather service.
Mostly between six and eight o'clock.
He also writes down all the information in a small booklet for himself.
There are a lot of abbreviations on the pages that a layperson might not be familiar with at first.
A small star can still be seen as a snowflake.
The rest needs an explanation.
One point means rain, one point in the triangle means rain showers.
A black triangle represents hail.
The page shows the data from January 22nd more quickly.
“.abd-v24” is there.
That means that in the evening, from 6 p.m., there was rain until before midnight.
The Oberammergauer continues until January 23rd.
“.. no -vm mU and .^ vm”, i.e. heavy rain after midnight until the morning and rain showers in the morning are recorded there.
“We keep checking back,” says Schneller.
The volunteer weather observer has to measure snow depths himself.
Or he has to record extreme weather events such as the severe hailstorm in Bad Bayersoien himself.
The system does the rest.
45 years ago, Thomas Schneller had to record weather data as a gardener's apprentice: duty turned into fascination
That was not always so.
He actually had to record the weather 45 years ago, during his apprenticeship at a Murnau nursery.
Back then, the Oberammergauer entered the information into special lists and calendars.
So that you can keep a close eye on the conditions for your plants.
The compulsory task became fun and a certain fascination.
“It’s exciting to see how, in the big picture, everything is connected to the weather,” says Schneller.
He feels climatic changes in the gardening area, for example.
Today people come to him earlier to buy lettuce plants or balcony flowers for spring.
It's also quicker to notice how green the meadows were in February.
Or how dry February was.
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Oberammergau weather observer explains: February was far too dry, snow in March was nothing unusual
In January, 135 liters of precipitation fell in Oberammergau, which is normal.
But in the second month of the year there were only 42 liters.
Too little.
Normal would be 80 to 100 liters.
But the plants need the precipitation and the cold, “otherwise they get completely confused.”
Schneller also remembers warm winters in the 1980s.
But climate change is clearly visible.
Schneller expects snow to come again in March.
“That's nothing unusual.” This is how the Ammertaler believes in a white Easter.
“We've had that a lot in recent years.
Especially when Easter is early.” Like this year, when Easter Sunday falls on March 31st.
He sees that in his books.
His weather stations register the values automatically.
Schneller has to measure snow depths himself.
© Brumbauer
Schneller will soon have to do without them.
The German Weather Service has issued copies for 2024 and 2025.
From 2026, recording will only take place via digital devices.
Schneller doesn’t want to work exclusively with a tablet or smartphone.
“Then I’ll have to think of something,” he says.
Because he wants to continue to put the weather data he collects on paper.
Tagblatt series: Heroes of volunteer work
Finding people who are committed is becoming increasingly difficult in some areas.
The Tagblatt would like to find these people and introduce them to readers - as real role models in a society that can certainly use more community spirit.
You, dear reader, can help us track down volunteer heroes.
If it's the neighbor, a club colleague - give us a tip as to who we should portray in the local newspaper.
Please contact Cornelia Bader by phone on 0 88 21/7 57 17 or by email at redaktion@gap-tagblatt.de.
Your suggestions will be used to create a new Tagblatt series that will accompany us in all departments throughout the year.
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You can find even more current news from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district at Merkur.de/Garmisch-Partenkirchen.