During this summer's European
heat wave, Germany’s previous
record of 40.3C was broken by the
weather station in the northwest city
of Lingen, near the Dutch border.
The site has some issues.
The station is located near
a DWD office building,
shielded from the wind
by grown trees, and located
near a public swimming pool.
Meteorologist Michael Theusner
said: “The monthly average
of the daily highs in Lingen
has been deviating more
and more upwards from
the average of the highs
in Lower Saxony since 2010.”
The station has become
increasingly shielded
and tends to heat up more.
Germany’s DWD national
weather service has confirmed
that the station’s siting
is no longer adequate and
a move to a new site had been
long planned.
But despite the poor siting,
the DWD confirmed the reading
as a new record -- the 42.6°C
reading now stands
as Germany’s new all-time
recorded high temperature.
Lingen readings
are +2 to +3C. hotter
than its neighboring
weather stations:
- The Nordhorn station,
20 kilometers away,
reached 40.9°C,
on that day
in late July 2019,
1.7°C below
the Lingen reading
of 42.6C.
The Meppen station,
20 km away
to the north of Lingen,
reached 39.2°C,
3.4°C below
the Lingen reading
of 42.6C.
The Diephotz
military base,
65 km to the east,
reached 38.7 degrees,
3.9 C. below
the Lingen reading
of 42.6C.
Bersenbrück,
40 km to the east,
reached 39.6°C,
3°C below
the Lingen reading
of 42.6C.
Emsdetten reached 40.6°C.
Ahaus reached 39.5°C.
A summary of all the
temperature readings
recorded at Lingen
compared to those of
6 nearby stations for
the five days
from July 23 – July 27:
On every day,
Lingen was hotter
than neighboring
weather stations
by large margins.
On the record-setting date
of Thursday, July 25, 2019,
the average of the
six neighboring
stations was 2.6°C below
the Lingen reading.
There are many more sites
in Germany where temperatures
are monitored than there
used to be.
So there's more chance
of a local hot spot
getting measured.
National records should
only be acceptable at sites
with very long records,
with high quality siting.
That's NOT
the Lingen
weather station.