As of: March 24, 2024, 12:02 p.m
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There was a wonderful winter landscape on the Hoher Peißenberg on January 10th.
It was one of two periods of snow in this otherwise far too warm winter.
© Ralf Ruder
Last winter set a record with that of 2019/20: both were far too warm.
Nevertheless, there were two really cold periods and twelve days of permanent frost.
Hohenpeißenberg - The past winter was the warmest in our measurement history with an average temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius - but on a par with the winter of 2019/20 (differences are in the hundredth range).
It was the third warmest winter in Germany.
The history of our series of measurements can be proven that between 1797 and 1989 no winter was warmer than 1.7 degrees Celsius.
From the mid-1980s onwards, the mild winters became more and more common.
The warmest ones so far all occurred after 1990.
The temperature range this winter was from minus 10.1 degrees Celsius on January 9th to 15.8 degrees Celsius on February 16th.
There were two winter periods.
The first began in the autumn month of November.
Freezing temperatures occurred from November 25th to December 7th.
There was also a blanket of snow from November 25th to December 12th with a maximum of 60 centimeters on December 2nd.
Weather review from the observatory on the Hohen Peißenberg: Winter 2023/24 was once again much too warm
The second winter period brought freezing temperatures from January 6th to 21st.
The snow cover was highest from January 6th to 22nd, with 29 centimeters on January 8th.
After that, winter was consistently on course for spring.
There were 30 frost days. There was a blanket of snow on 29 winter days.
There were twelve ice days, i.e. days with permanent forest.
The winter was too wet.
285 liters fell per square meter (161 percent).
This was also very similar across Germany.
Measurable precipitation fell on 33 days.
The winter sun shone for 315 hours (111 percent).
We were privileged with that.
In parts of northern Germany there were sometimes less than 100 hours throughout the entire winter.
This means a bit more quality of life, because you can produce more vitamin D, recharge your batteries and – actually – release happiness hormones.
Sun in moderation (serotonin) has a mood-enhancing effect.
Media headlines like “February warmer than it has been in 140 years” made the rounds
The highest wind peaks of the winter were 119 km/h on December 21st and 24th (wind force 12 on the Beaufort scale, hurricane range).
Stormy winds with gusts (above force 8) occurred on 37 days.
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Between the short periods of winter weather, the temperatures rose very quickly, usually to over ten degrees Celsius.
The mild air masses reached us from directions between the west and southwest and came from the Atlantic.
Media headlines like “February warmer than it has been in 140 years” or “Atlantic as warm as July” made the rounds.
Above-average rain in Germany - especially in the north
The fact is that the water temperatures in the northern part of the Atlantic have been at record levels since March 2023. For example, on January 24, 2024, the average surface temperature of the North Atlantic was 20.4 degrees Celsius - the highest it has ever been at the end of January.
The main causes are known to be the general warming of the oceans due to the warmer troposphere itself - as a result of climate change (the world's oceans absorb 90 percent of the heat through man-made greenhouse gases), other air currents over the world's oceans and the poorer mixing of surface water.
By the way: Everything from the region is also available in our regular Schongau newsletter. And in our Weilheim-Penzberg newsletter.
The air masses from the Atlantic not only provided us with exceptionally mild air, but also with above-average rain in Germany (more in the north than in the south), because the warmer the air, the more water vapor it can absorb.
Stronger low pressure developments also caused an exceptional number of stormy days across the country, most of them in the north.
By Siegmar Lorenz, weather observer in the observatory on the Hohen Peißenberg