Cottbus broke the first German heat record of the year on Sunday. With 39.2 degrees Celsius, a new highest temperature for the second decade of June was measured in the east Brandenburg city, as reported by the German Weather Service (DWD). Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far.
The previous record for the period from June 11th to 20th has thus been exceeded by almost one degree. This was measured in 2002 at 38.3 degrees in the Rhineland.
For Cottbus itself, it was also the highest temperature ever measured since systematic weather recording began in 1888. According to the DWD, this exceeded the more than 100-year-old previous all-time record of 38.9 degrees, which was officially registered there on July 19, 1921.
In many places, the temperatures were just under 38 degrees. According to the weather service, between 35 and 37 degrees were registered on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in a wide strip from the Upper Rhine in Baden-Württemberg via southern Hesse and Bavaria to southern East Germany.
The cause of the heat wave is the influx of hot, dry subtropical air from the Mediterranean region and North Africa. Extreme temperatures are also currently prevailing there.
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The highest temperatures of the year to date had previously been determined on Saturday afternoon, at the Waghäusel-Kirrlach stations on the Upper Rhine (Baden-Württemberg) and in Bad Kreuznach (Rhineland-Palatinate) it was 37.1 degrees.
