Hot, wet and windy: The year breaks weather records

2023 was the warmest year worldwide since the beginning of industrialization - and of course also in Baden-Württemberg.

, and Ksenia Johnson

2023 December 29 . 4:53 PM

2 min read

A man refreshes himself under a cold shower at a bathing lake. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

DWD - Hot, wet and windy: The year breaks weather records

In Baden-Württemberg, 2023 was also the warmest year since records began in 1881. The German Weather Service (DWD) announced two days before the end of the calendar year that the average temperature for the year as a whole would be 11 degrees. That is 2.9 degrees higher than the value for the internationally valid reference period from 1961 to 1990.

"2023 was a new record year for temperatures worldwide," said Tobias Fuchs, Head of the DWD's Climate and Environment Division on Friday, warning: "Climate change is continuing unabated."

According to the experts' records, a total of at least 1855 hours of sunshine were recorded in the past year. "This made Baden-Württemberg the sunniest region in 2023 alongside Bavaria," the DWD announced. The record was already apparent at the beginning of the year with highs of over 19 degrees in some places. According to the DWD, the winter ended in tenth place among the mildest, with the first summer days of the year on May 4 in the Upper Rhine Graben.

According to the DWD, Baden-Württemberg's highest temperatures were not only recorded on July 9 in Waghäusel-Kirrlach between Heidelberg and Karlsruhe with a temperature of 38 degrees. Two days later, Friedrichshafen reported a wind speed of 129 kilometers per hour.

According to DWD statistics, the summer was also the fifth warmest and September by far the warmest ninth month of a year since measurements began. On October 13, the hottest days ever recorded in Germany were measured in Rheinfelden and Müllheim, each at 30.1 degrees.

This fits in with the autumn, which will go down in the final accounts as the warmest since records began. November was also very wet, with the third-highest amount of rainfall for the month. In total, 2023 brought around 980 liters of precipitation per square meter to the southwest, which is also the value for the reference period.

The weather service also expects a record year nationwide with an average temperature of 10.6 degrees. Warm and humid conditions with high levels of precipitation would have dominated.

December was also a temperature rollercoaster. In the first ten days, the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb were still deep in winter. After the second weekend of Advent, however, the temperature on the Rhine shot back above 14 degrees. It also remained mild over Christmas and at the turn of the year. According to the DWD, the last month of the year ended with an extremely high 4.2 degrees - a whopping 3.9 degrees more than the internationally valid reference period of 1961 to 1990.

It was also too wet with 110 liters per square meter (reference period: 82 liters). In the Black Forest alone, over 300 liters of precipitation fell in some places, which, to the delight of winter sports enthusiasts, remained as snow on up to 21 days at higher altitudes. With around 50 hours of December sunshine, the southwest was comparatively the sunniest region.