Germany has experienced an unusually wet summer after three years of droughts, according to a preliminary review of the season undertaken by the German Weather Service (DWD). 

Summer 2021’s rain caused major flooding in Germany

In July 2021 alone, Germany experienced 40 percent more rainfall than the average for 1961 to 1990, and 25 percent more than the average for the years 1991 to 2020, the DWD found: "In 2021, Germany experienced the rainiest summer in 10 years."

DWD noted that a large part of this was the extreme rainfall that hit North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate in July, causing dangerous flooding. The DWD report referred to this as one of the “most consequential natural disasters since the storm surge of 1962”. More than 100 litres per square metre fell within just 24 hours of the storm, and more than 180 people lost their lives.

Studies have found that floods are becoming more common

Environmental experts have recently found that severe floods and extreme weather have become up to nine times more likely due to climate change. The effects of climate change are also being felt in the temperature of the German summertime. 

June 2021 saw a strong heatwave in Germany, which saw the country sweat in tropical summer nights and the third-warmest season since the beginning of records in 1881.