OFFENBACH (dpa-AFX) – After the hottest day of the year so far with around 40 degrees in many places, it has cooled down noticeably in some regions. There were also thunderstorms on Thursday night, especially in the south and west of Germany. In Baden-Württemberg, a man had a fatal accident on a wet road. During the course of the day, the German Weather Service (DWD) expected individual thunderstorms. Temperatures are expected to rise again by the weekend.
First of all, the meteorologists expect maximum values between 19 and 24 degrees on Thursday in the northwest, otherwise 25 to 31 degrees, on the Oder and Neisse up to 33 degrees. Over the course of the day, they expect individual thunderstorms with rain (up to 20 liters per square meter), stormy gusts and hail in the Hamburg area, eastern Lower Saxony and eastern Germany, later in the day also in southeastern Bavaria. In the night to Friday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, thundery heavy rain is still possible for a long time.
The change in weather initially had consequences primarily in the south and west. In the Kraichgau, there was a fatal accident on the Autobahn 6 in the direction of Nuremberg due to the rain-soaked road, in which a 58-year-old man died. In the Allgäu, lightning set a house on fire and caused damage of around 1.5 million euros. And in Bavaria, a tree crashed into a house after being struck by lightning – without anyone being injured.
The rain that set in helped extinguish numerous blazing fires in NRW. After difficult extinguishing work, the fire between Altena and Iserlohn in Sauerland is now under control. About ten hectares of land in difficult-to-access terrain were affected by the forest fire. There had also been several fires in the north, for example near Massow (Mecklenburg Lake District) a rye field caught fire for an unknown reason. The flames spread over two hectares and engulfed a holiday home that was unoccupied. The house burned down, the damage was estimated at around 160,000 euros. The fire brigade also had to go out to respond to burning harvesters.
The risk of forest fires is particularly high in eastern Germany. The forest fire risk index of the DWD also shows the fourth of five danger levels nationwide for next Monday.
Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir called on people to be vigilant. “We all have to help now that forest fires are avoided, here in Germany and on vacation. So: urgently keep your eyes and ears open, leave nothing flammable behind, don’t throw away cigarettes carelessly! The slightest inattention can trigger disasters,” said the Green politician “Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ/Thursday edition). He also advocated a permanent change in forests, from spruce monocultures to mixed forests.
On Wednesday the whole of Germany was still sweating: more than 40 degrees were even measured at four DWD stations. The highest value was reached with 40.3 degrees in Bad Mergentheim in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg. This Wednesday surpassed the previous day and became the hottest day of the year so far.
According to the DWD, state records were also measured in terms of temperature in six federal states. In addition to Baden-Württemberg, these were Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hamburg and Saxony-Anhalt. The German record is 41.2 degrees, measured on July 25, 2019 at two stations in NRW.
After days of heat and drought, the political discussion is also getting louder. The questions currently in focus are: Is a heat protection plan needed? And who is responsible for that?
In view of the heat wave, the Federal Environment Agency is urging cities to be better equipped to withstand high temperatures and heavy rain. “We have to rebuild our cities in order to be able to live with climate change,” said President Dirk Messner of the German Press Agency. “Above all, this includes a lot more greenery in the cities. That cools things down significantly.” When it rains, the city needs to be able to soak up and store the water so that it evaporates when it’s hot, bringing another cooling effect. The restructuring of cities as an important change in health protection must begin now.
“We will have to unseal areas such as parking lots, streets and paved squares and make room for cooling green,” explained Messner. This helps in the fight against heat and heavy rain, improves the quality of life in general and creates space for climate-friendly mobility such as cycling. Cities should create heat action plans across the board, which the federal and state governments should financially support, Messner recommended. Public facilities should be role models for heat prevention with nature-based measures: “For example, new daycare centers, gyms or fire stations should be consistently equipped with green roofs.”/sow/DP/mis