German Climate
Germany’s climate is temperate and marine, with cold, cloudy winters and warm summers and in the south occasional warm föhn wind.
The greater part of Germany lies in the cool/temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate.
In the northwest and the north, the climate is oceanic and rain falls all year round.
Winters here are relatively mild and summers comparatively cool.
In the east, the climate shows clear continental features; winters can be very cold for long periods, and summers can become very warm. Dry periods are often recorded.
In the centre and the south, there is a transitional climate that may be predominantly oceanic or continental, according to the general weather situation.
Winters are cool and summers warm, though maximum temperatures can exceed 30 °C for several days in a row during heat waves.
The warmest regions of Germany can be found in the southwest.
Here summers can be hot with many days exceeding 30 °C.
- Weather atlas gives a good overview of the climate per month
- Another good source of information by Region/Town is the Climatemps website. Here is an example of the weather data they have for Stuttgart
Towns with the most sunshine
Freiburg and Chemnitz are known as the towns with the most sunshine hours in Germany.
Looking for other sunny cities in Germany? You can see a comparison here.
You can also read more about coping with the lack of winter sunshine on our page about SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
Warmest cities in Germany
Frankfurt is the warmest city in the summer.
The city with the highest average temperature for 2019 was Köln-Stammheim. Offenbach am Main is also on the list.
Rostock is the coldest on average.
Most Rainfall per city
Halle / Saale has the least rainfall. It also seldom rains in Erfurt, Berlin and Magdeburg – they still have little sunshine (3.8 to 4.4 hours/day).
According to Bild, A lot of rain falls in Oldenburg (1072 milliliters), Remscheid (942), Essen (931), Solingen (896) and Wuppertal (866).
This means that North Rhine-Westphalia is not only one of the regions with the poorest sunshine but also one of the rainiest regions.
Where to find the most Snow
The place with the most snow is the Zugspitze at an elevation of 3000m.
When it snows, it will be mostly on the mountain areas, although some of the lower-lying areas also do get snow.
The most snow can be expected during January and February.
Types of weather conditions
der Dauerregen | Constant or persistent rain | The US National Weather Service has a good explanation of the different types of rain In Central Europe one speaks of continuous rain when it continues with uninterrupted rainfall and a severity of more than 0.5 millimeters of precipitation per hour for a period of at least six hours. |
der Sprühregen or der Nieselregen |
Drizzle |
Fairly uniform precipitation composed exclusively of fine drops very close together. Drizzle appears to float while following air currents, but unlike fog droplets, it falls to the ground. Quite often fog and drizzle occur together. |
To find out more about the difference between Graupel, Freezing rain, Sleet and snow, have a look on this page from NJ. |
||
der Graupel / | Graupel |
Also known as snow pellets. |
der Eisregen | Freezing rain |
Raindrops becomes supercooled and freeze upon impact with any surface. This results in ice that can accumulate. |
der Schneeregen | Sleet |
Sleet is simply frozen raindrops and occurs when the layer of freezing air along the surface is thicker. This causes the raindrops to freeze before reaching the ground. |
der Schnee | Snow | ![]() |
der Nebel | Fog |
In the meteorological glossary fog is defined as ‘obscurity in the surface layers of the atmosphere, which is caused by a suspension of water droplets. By international agreement (particularly for aviation purposes) fog is the name given to resulting visibility less than 1 km. However, in forecasts for the public, this generally refers to visibility less than 180 m. |
Der Dunst | Mist |
Mist is defined as ‘when there is such obscurity and the associated visibility is equal to or exceeds 1000 m.’ Like fog, mist is still the result of the suspension of water droplets, but simply at a lower density. Mist typically is quicker to dissipate and can rapidly disappear with even slight winds, it’s also what you see when you can see your breath on a cold day. Some also say that mist forms on the ground (rises) |
der Eisnebel | Freezing fog |
The fog forms when the temps at the surface are below freezing. |
der Frost | Frost | Frost forms when an outside surface cools past the dew point. The dew point is the point where the air gets so cold, the water vapour in the atmosphere turns into liquid. |
die Gewitter | Thunder | |
der Blitz | Lightning |
Seasons

Autumn and Winter in Germany
As South Africans, we are used to having great weather most of the year. Our summers are hot and the winters short. There is also not much difference in the sunrise and sunset times between the seasons.Our houses are built to keep the heat out and we suffer through the two relatively cold months of July and August with extra blankets, heaters, jerseys and OBS. Winter in Germany is much darker and longer. Depending on
Sources
Related pages

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Raclette
The summer months are gone, and for most of us, it is too cold to have a braai with our friends. A great alternative is

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Surviving winter in Germany. How to deal with Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or feeling blue during the winter months.
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