Coldest April in Germany for 40 years
Year of issue 2021
Date 29.04.2021
Offenbach, 29 April 2021 – With the record summery temperatures at the end of March 2021 and the warm start to April, hopes were raised of another warm spring. But the conditions quickly changed to northerly directions and the incoming cool and dry air masses made April 2021 distinctly cooler. All in all, it was the coolest April since 1980, i.e. 40 years. Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) press officer Uwe Kirsche commented: "Even in times of global warming it is always possible for a month to be much too cold, although it is rarer. This April does not change the overall trend. Since records began in 1881, the monthly average temperature for April in Germany has increased by close to two degrees." April 2021 was also much too dry and relatively sunny. This is the summary announced by the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) after an initial analysis of the observations from its approximately 2,000 weather stations.
April much too cool with an exceptionally large number of frost days
The average temperature in April 2021 was 6.1 degrees Celsius (°C), which is 1.3 degrees lower than the figure for the international reference period 1961–1990. Compared to the current warmer 1991–2020 period, the deviation was 2.9 degrees. As March changed to April, the warm temperature recorded on 1 April in the south-west of the country was still reminiscent of early summer. At 25.9 °C, the highest monthly temperature was recorded in Müllheim to the south of Freiburg, but that was only a short summery intermezzo. Cool north winds soon gained the upper hand and caused the temperature to fall to a much lower level. After years of April being very warm, the Easter month this year turned out to be the coolest since 1980. Frosts were also unusually frequent. It was the second frostiest April in Germany after 1929, with the average for all DWD stations being just under 13 frost days. The iciest temperature was recorded on 6 April at Messstetten on the Swabian Alb ( 13.6 °C). On 11 April an air mass boundary over Germany separated the late winter conditions in the north-west from the early-summer weather in the south-east of the country. Whereas the highest temperature measured on the North Sea coast was 5 °C, in Upper and Lower Bavaria the mercury rose to over 22 °C.
In Germany every April since 2009 has been too dry
With around 35 litres per square metre (l/m²), precipitation in April was just under 40 per cent less than the average precipitation of 58 l/m² recorded during the reference period 1961–1990. Compared to the period 1991–2020, the deviation was almost 25 per cent below normal. In Germany every April since 2009 has therefore been too dry. In April 2008 precipitation was still 80 l/m². Copious precipitation primarily fell during the first half of the month. Snow and graupel showers temporarily returned hills and lowland areas to a winter landscape. On 7 April, for instance, 40 cm of snow was recorded in Obersdorf in the Allgäu, and Kahler Asten in the Sauerland reported 34 cm on 8 April. There were also thunderstorms. On 20 April the highest daily precipitation nationwide was recorded in Waldeck-Alraft to the west of Kassel (32 l/m²) as a result of a thunderstorm with heavy rainfall. The highest monthly total of nearly 100 l/m² was observed at the Kreuth-Glashütte station in the Upper Bavarian district of Miesbach. One of the driest areas was around the Danube, where less than 15 l/m² fell in some places.
A Largely sunny April, only relatively dull in the eastern regions
At 185 hours, the sunshine duration in April was around 20 per cent higher than the average figure of 154 hours for the period 1961–1990. Compared to 1991–2020, the sunshine duration was balanced. The coastal areas and the south-west of the country recorded more than 200 hours of sunshine, whereas some parts of the eastern regions only saw sunshine for half that time.
All the monthly values stated in this press release are provisional figures. The data used for the last two days of the month are based on forecasts. Some of the measurements from DWD's network of stations were not yet available at the time of publication.
