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'Heatwave could go down in history': Germany faces temperatures of up to 41C

The Local Germany
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'Heatwave could go down in history': Germany faces temperatures of up to 41C
Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday morning as the heat begins. Photo: DPA

A possibly record breaking heatwave is coming to Germany, and will hit the western part of the country particularly hard.

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Temperatures upwards of 40C could be reached in Saarland and in the Mosel Valley on Wednesday, according to the latest predictions from the German Weather Service (DWD).

But Thursday will mark the hottest day of the week, according to current calculations, and the Ruhr region - including Cologne - the Mosel Valley, and Saarland are likely to reach temperatures of 41C, according to DWD spokesperson Andreas Friedrich.

In the Rhine-Main area, heat records are also possible, with the Mercury expected to exceed 40C on Thursday. Further afield in Kitzingen in northern Bavaria, a historical heat record of 40.3C could also be broken.

"If these predictions are met, this heatwave would go down in the history books,” Friedrich told RP Online. "As a meteorologist, I have never seen anything like this before." 

DWD tweeted a map of western Germany, and its expected temperatures, on Thursday. 

In the Ruhr area, the lowest temperatures on Wednesday night are not likely to fall below 25C. 

According to current forecasts, meteorologists expect four consecutive "tropical nights" in the region. 

"The heat load will be extreme", Friedrich said. "One can only hope that the models will not occur and that there will be new calculations with a forecast of one or two degrees less.”

In Berlin and eastern Germany, temperatures upwards of 34C are expected on Thursday, according to DWD.

As was the case in June, the DWD is likely to issue heat warnings in the coming days. Warning level 2 will be issued if there is extreme "heat pollution" - or a temperature above 38C - during the day. 

A warning level 1 is issued when the so-called perceived temperature at 2 pm is 32C or more. The perceived temperature used as a measurement by DWD is not the same as the air temperature, as it also takes into account the humidity of the air, the wind, and the sun's radiation. 

The heatwave of the coming days is already the fourth this summer for some regions in Germany. That's an unusually large number, DWD and other weather experts have said. 

SEE ALSO: 'This isn't normal': Germany braces for fourth heat wave of summer

Already in June, regional record temperatures were exceeded in several places. 

In fact, throughout Germany, it was the warmest and sunniest June since the beginning of area-wide measurements.

SEE ALSO: Germany records its hottest June temperature

Vocabulary

possibly record-breaking heatwave - (die) rekordverdächtige Hitzewelle

Predictions - (die) Vorhersagen 

Current calculations - (die) derzeitigen Berechnungen 

Tropical nights - (die) Tropennächte

Perceived/felt temperature - (die) gefühlte Temperatur 

Heat load - (die) Wärmebelastung

We're aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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