Weather Locations in Germany

Germany Weather Overview

Germany covers 357,021 km² of land, so it obviously has a fairly wide range of temperatures prevailing across the huge land mass. Germany is also known for having variable daily weather conditions, so come prepare with sunglasses as well as raincoats when visiting.

 Bordered to the north by the North Sea and the Baltic Sea; Poland and the Czech Republic in the east; in the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The majority of Germany has a temperate climate in which humid westerly winds prevail.

 
Its proximity to the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea means that the climate is moderated by the North Atlantic Drift, particularly in the northern reaches of the country

The North Atlantic Drift is an off stream of the powerful Gulf Stream Current which brings warmer waters into the region.

 
Consequently in the north and north-west of Germany, the climate exhibits oceanic conditions with year round rainfall occurs year round with a large amount of the annual precipitation falling in the summer months.

 
Winters in the north and north west of the country are mild and summers tend to be warm but not hot. However on the odd occasion temperatures have been known to exceed 30 °C for periods throughout the very midst of summer.

 
North Germany lies within the North European Plain and generally cnsistss of lowlands and flat plains. As you move into central and southern Germany the terrain becomes more hilly and rises in the south towards the Alps on the Austrian border.

 
As a result of this increase in altitude this has the affect of counteracting the decrease in latitude. Normally as you head further inland within a country the conditions become slightly more extreme, as you move further from the coast you will loose the moderating affects of coastal breezes so temperatures will rise in summer and be colder in winter. However, this isn’t so much the case in Germany as the increasing latitude means that temperatures are cooler in summer than they would be if the area was low lying. 

 
In saying this however, the increased altitude and distance from the sea also makes winters harsher, snowfall is heavier and frost is present throughout a lot of winter.

 
In eastern Germany, the weather conditions are more characteristic of a continental climate. In Eastern Germany you will find the larger cities of Berlin, Munich and Salzburg. Here winters can be very cold, particularly the further inland you head. Winters in south eastern Germany can get bitterly cold.

 
(see the average annual weather conditions for Munich, which lies in the south east of Germany)

 
Summers in the east are warm, and often have minimal rainfall. While temperatures do often exceed 30 degrees the average temperature normally sits in the mid to high 30’s throughout summer. In the summer of 2007 Berlin did see scorching temperatures of over 40 degrees, with 2 days in the summer recording a blistering high of 44 degrees in the centre of the city.

 
Although Berlin is located upon the Spree river which does have a mild cooling affect, the large distance from any coastal area means that when days in excess of 40 degrees occur this heat can be stifling. Berlin's built-up city centre creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings resulting in temperatures being up to 4 °C  higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.

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