What the weather forecast predicts over Easter weekend in Germany
A bout of warm, sunny weather in recent days had many in Germany unpacking their summer wear.
But in western parts of the country, the weather has already turned, with Düsseldorf and surrounding cities having seen a dramatic drop in temperatures and scattered showers on Wednesday.
The German weather service (DWD) says that western parts of the country will see cold temperatures and more rain in the coming days whilst eastern regions continue to see sunshine and relative warmth.
Why is the weather so divided right now?
Dramatic
differences between Germany's former eastern and western states
are a well understood phenomenon, but it's rare to see weather patterns between the two sides so divided.
The DWD predicts single-digit temperatures with rain in the west on Wednesday and Thursday whilst in eastern regions it will be just under 30 degrees with plenty of sun in the east. In middle regions a risk of thunderstorms is reported.
According to DWD meteorologist Marco Manitta, the high-contrast weather is due to a pronounced low-pressure zone that currently stretches from North Africa through Italy to the British Isles. The cold air on the western flank of this zone reaches extends far south, and on the other side a warm air mass extends as far north as Scandinavia.
A woman walks withn an umbrella during a rain shower in Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt may see showers and colder temperatures, especially on Friday. Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
The result is that in Western Europe it feels as if a last bout of winter weather has moved in, whereas Eastern and Southeastern Europe feel as if summer has already begun.
This strong temperature contrast also brings severe weather - this is expected to affect Italy the most, but may also bring scattered storms to middle sections of Germany.
Advertisement
Warmest day of the year
"Germany is right on the border between cold and warm air," explains meteorologist Manitta, according to a DPA report.
In the eastern half, the DWD expects the warmest day of the year so far on Wednesday with highs of up to 27C. Meanwhile in most western regions, temperatures will stay below 20C - even below 15C closer to the western border. There the sky will be cloudy or overcast with scattered rain on Wednesday afternoon.
In the transition area of this air mass boundary - roughly between Swabia and Schleswig-Holstein - isolated strong thunderstorms may develop.
On Thursday, the temperature contrast will be even greater: in the western half under the dense clouds and the intermittent rain, temperatures between 9C to 14C are expected. In the east, summer temperatures will continue, up to 28C in some places with plenty of sun.
Individual strong thunderstorms will continue in the transition zone, which is expected to move between Bavaria and West Mecklenburg.
READ ALSO:
How to navigate roads and trains in Germany over the Easter holidays
An inflatable easter bunny stands in a field advertising an Easter event in Werder, Brandenburg. Weather over Easter weekend will be mixed across Germany. Photo by RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP
How's the weather over Easter?
According to the DWD, Easter conditions will perhaps not be as nice as many would would like for holidays.
On Good Friday, heavy rains may continue in parts of the west, and scattered thunderstorms may finally reach the east, too, as the transition zone moves slightly eastward. This will also cause temperatures to dip slightly in the east, with highs around 19C to 23C.
Advertisement
Throughout the rest of the holidays the weather will be mixed. Temperatures are expected to rise modestly over the weekend in parts of the west to highs between 17C and 23C.
But scattered showers or thunderstorms may continue.
On a positive note, the showers will bring some much needed rain to parts of Germany that are suffering drought conditions. A bit of water on the ground should
reduce wildfire risk
as well, just in time to ease some tension ahead of
Easter bonfires
in many western cities.
With reporting by DPA.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Germany
3 days ago
- Local Germany
Nine injured after plane hit severe turbulence in southern Germany
A passenger plan was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Memmingen Airport late on Wednesday night due to turbulence as storms lashed southern Germany. Nine people on board were injured. According to police statements, the plane was a Ryanair aircraft with 179 passengers and six crew members on board, travelling from Berlin to Milan. The plane encountered such severe turbulence during the flight that eight passengers and one crew member were injured. Three were taken to hospital for treatment: a two-year-old child suffered bruises, a woman suffered a head laceration, and another passenger complained of back pain. According to police, as of Thursday morning the airline was organizing buses for the passengers' onward journey after the South Bavarian Aviation Authority withheld approval for a continuation of the flight. Severe weather brough by storm 'Tim' Emergency services were busy elsewhere during the night as storm "Tim" brought heavy rain, high winds and thunderstorms to parts of southern Germany. In Baden-Württemberg, the storm damaged several houses in Ulm. According to a fire department spokesperson, the roofs of several terraced houses were blown off in the Donaustetten district. No injuries were reported. The German Weather Service (DWD) is investigating whether a tornado passed through the area. A DWD spokesperson said that clarity should be available during the course of the day. In northern Upper Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate, there were around 50 fire department calls due to the storm, and just under 40 in Lower Bavaria. According to the police, most of the calls were for flooded drains, fallen trees, or water-filled basements. Advertisement In Munich, the start of the Nations League football match between Germany and Portugal was delayed by hail. Possibility of storms on Thursday The DWD expects showers with brief thunderstorms and heavy rain in north-western Germany on Thursday. In the course of the afternoon, there will be more severe thunderstorms and heavy rain showers across central and eastern Germany. Isolated storms with hailstones about two centimetres in size are possible, according to the DWD. With reporting by DPA.
Local Germany
4 days ago
- Local Germany
How to manage seasonal allergies in Germany
More and more people seem to dread the arrival of spring and summer each year, fearing that the appearance of flowers and blossoms will herald a running nose and itchy eyes. For some newcomers in Germany, learning the word ' Heuschnupfen ' comes with experiencing it at a whole new level, or even for the first time. For those who suffer through the spring season, here's a look at what accounts for the rise in cases seen in recent years, as well as some of the best things you can do to reduce your suffering. Why are allergy cases on the rise? According to a press release from European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation , the pollen season really does last longer each year: 'Climate change means that pollen from grasses and herbaceous plants is flying around longer into the autumn, while trees are starting to bloom earlier in the year." Certain plants and trees, such as ragweed and birch (which bear an outsized responsibility for producing large quantities of allergenic pollen), are growing faster than ever before and producing even greater quantities of pollen as a result of global warming. Lifestyle changes in Germany are also a factor In common with much of the developed world, population density continues to increase in major cities in Germany – and numerous studies have shown that a higher proportion of people in cities suffer from seasonal allergies, compared with people who live in the countryside. Cities tend to be a few degrees warmer than the surrounding rural areas, which encourages plants to produce even more pollen. Common urban pollutants such as exhaust fumes can also make pollen grains more allergenic, according to a study in The Scientific World Journal . In addition, many cities in Germany have followed a policy of planting male-only trees, in order to protect streets (and the paintwork of cars) from the seeds, fruits or pods produced by female trees. However, the relatively high number of male, pollen producing trees, and the relative absence of female, pollen receiving trees, amounts to vast quantities of surplus pollen filling the air in our cities, and therefore also our eyes, noses and lungs. Other changes in the way we live may also have an impact on our susceptibility to allergies. The move towards smaller family sizes and improved sanitation means that infants are typically exposed to fewer infectious diseases. Some studies suggest that these infections – previously acquired from older siblings in larger families – play a part in conferring protection against allergies. Before German reunification, for example, allergy rates were significantly lower in the GDR (where larger households were more common) than they were in West Germany. Within a decade of reunification, as lifestyles began to align across the former border, so did the rates of hay fever. Advertisement How to avoid giving in to seasonal allergies 1. Don't suffer unnecessarily. Find the antihistamine which works for you and keep it close. The go-to, over the counter antihistamine in Germany is Cetirizine (around €8 for 100 pills), but bear in mind that it makes some people sleepy. You may want to take your daily dose before going to bed. A piece of advice: finding the right hay fever medication for you can be a hit and miss process. Some medications won't start working until a few days after you start taking them and others won't work at all. Visit your nearest chemist and ask for Heuschnupfentabletten . They will be able to advise you on alternatives including Loratadin and Levocetirizine, or on nasal sprays which can provide more immediate relief. READ ALSO: German word of the day: Heuschnupfen 2. Try and get into the habit of washing your hands and face when you come home to remove pollen. If you have time, take a shower and wash your hair. Turn your pillow over at night for the same reason, and try to change your bedding more frequently. To reduce the number of allergens in your environment, vacuum your floors and regularly wipe down surfaces with a damp cloth. When the time comes to replace your pillows, blankets and mattresses, go hypoallergenic. Advertisement 3. Ask your doctor to refer you for an allergy test. If you can find out exactly what's causing the allergic reaction, you have a much better chance of avoiding it. You can also play detective on your own, by using this pollen risk index tool from the German weather service to find out what types of pollen are in the air while you're having a reaction. 4. Avoid filling your home, garden or balcony with plants which make your symptoms worse. Sunflowers, daisies and chrysanthemums are all related to ragweed – an invasive species in Germany and one of the primary causes of hay fever in the country.
DW
5 days ago
- DW
Inside the Swiss valley partially swallowed by a glacier – DW – 06/03/2025
The dramatic collapse of Switzerland's Birch glacier wiped the village of Blatten off the map. DW spoke to locals and experts about what happened and what comes next. Days after a natural disaster strikes, you often find survivors combing through rubble for their belongings or shoveling mud out of their crumbling homes. You might see prime ministers walking around the zone offering condolences, or rescue crews operating big, mechanical diggers to clear the scene. But the Swiss village of Blatten is caught in a kind of post-catastrophe paralysis. Buried under millions of cubic meters of rock and ice debris, it has been all but wiped off the map. And the site is still too unstable for crews to access, almost a week after the Birch glacier collapsed and swallowed the Alpine idyll. Evacuated resident Daniel Ritler describes the moment the glacier destroyed his hometown as being like 'an explosion' Image: Rosie Birchard/DW "It was like an explosion — like an explosion in my heart," evacuee Daniel Ritler told DW as he looked out over his buried hometown. "We knew immediately that everything was destroyed." "For seconds, there was an emptiness. You could really feel it," he added. "There was still a bit of hope, but as soon as the fog cleared, we saw the catastrophe." Evacuated in time Ritler, who kept sheep and ran a tourism business in Blatten, is staying with friends for now. "We lost our house, our stables, and of course, all those memories. We lived in a little paradise," he said. Though the deluge is thought to have claimed one life, Ritler and the other roughly 300 residents were evacuated in time. And many here feel lucky to be alive — aware that a similar event in a less wealthy country could have wrought even more damage. Injured cow 'Loni' was evacuated along with most residents of the Alpine village days before the landslide Image: Peter Klaunzer/KEYSTONE/dpa/picture alliance We meet him in Wiler, 3.5 kilometers (2.1 miles) from Blatten and the closest accessible point to the disaster zone, which is now serving as a crisis coordination hub. Here, the usual Alpine soundtrack of birdsong and the river rushing down the valley is drowned out by helicopters taking off, transporting scientists and geologists to survey the damage aerially, and assess the risk of further fallout. Mountain populations 'more and more threatened' One of those experts is glaciologist Saskia Gindraux. "We had a lot of rock and silt and sediment going onto a glacier, and this mass caused the glacier to really push forward — and everything just went down the valley," she explained. The unstable mountain face and thousands of tonnes of rocky debris has made it impossible for emergency workers to intervene to stabilise the zone Image: Cyril Zingaro/KEYSTONE/dpa The Swiss scientist told DW that a "coincidence of causes" led to the collapse. "It's hard to say this is linked to climate change and this one is not. It's hard to put a label on an event, but we are facing really high temperatures here in the Alps," she told DW. "It's twice the normal increase of other parts of the world," she added. Alpine glaciers have been retreating for decades, which Gindraux said makes the rock less stable. "That's one cause ... The other one is maybe permafrost that is melting, and the other one, the geology." "With climate change, we saw that the oldest natural hazards, so rock fall or glacier collapse or landslides, etc, they increase in frequency." "The population in the mountains are more and more threatened with these types of events." Fears neighbors 'won't come back' Aside from the hum of helicopters, the streets of Wiler are quiet. Local resident Alex Rieder is packing up his car: Two black bin bags full of clothes and other basics for his neighbors who have found themselves suddenly homeless. "Will they be compensated for the belongings they lost?" he wondered. "That has to happen quickly. Now because people need money to live. Because if they're gone for 10 or 20 years, they won't come back," Rieder told DW. Image: Rosie Birchard/DW Rieder fears for the future of life in this part of the Alps. "There's only one school left in the entire valley," he said. Inside his garage, Rieder shows us masks he helped craft for the local carnival — just one of many traditions dating back centuries here. He knows that if more people leave, this cultural heritage will become harder and harder to hold onto. But asked if he thinks it will disappear entirely, Rieder is defiant. "Traditions will never die. That will be the last thing. Because that's what gives people the most strength." No more evacuations planned No further evacuations are planned in nearby towns or villages for now. But they remain on high alert. Some 45 minutes' drive away in Gampel, flood prevention measures are in place, with some smaller bridges deliberately deconstructed to avoid further fallout. "We now have to see how the dangers develop further at the site of the damage. Rock masses could continue to fall from the mountain — and we have to keep monitoring how the danger develops in terms of the course of the river," regional president Christian Rieder told DW on Sunday. Locals face uncertainty after Swiss Alps glacier collapse To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "Depending on how the danger develops ... we will take further measures," he added. The situation was "stable' on Monday with "no notable changes" at the Birch glacier, according to Swiss broadcaster RTS. But smaller landslides continue, and there has been "no improvement" to allow crews to enter the zone securely. 'We have to find a new purpose' For survivors whose homes and livelihoods are buried in a greyish-brown debris, which authorities say is 100 meters (328 feet) deep in some areas, it's clear there's no going back. From the drivers' seat of his van, with the views of lush mountain landscapes filling the windows and wing mirrors bearing the disaster that unfolded here, evacuee Daniel Ritler told DW it is hard to imagine what life after Blatten might look like. "I built a farm from scratch, always adapting to the challenges of the future," he said, adding: "That was before." "Now we have to find a new place to live and a new purpose. And it will certainly take some time until we can find our way again."
