Pets – Personal stories

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 Current weather conditions BERLIN WEATHER STUTTGART WEATHER FELDBERG WEATHER 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. When you don’t feel yourself during the darker months, you might suffer from 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 snowiest location in Germany is the Zugspitze, standing at an elevation of 3,000 meters. While snow is most common in mountainous regions, lower-lying areas also experience snowfall, though less frequently. The heaviest snowfall typically occurs in January and February. Types of weather conditions Precipitation refers to any form of atmospheric moisture that falls to the Earth’s surface. There are various types of precipitation that can occur depending on the temperature and atmospheric conditions in a particular region. The most common types of precipitation include rain, snow, sleet, and hail. To read more about the difference between Graupel, Freezing rain, Sleet and snow, have a look on this page from NJ.  der Regen Rain Rain occurs when liquid water droplets in the air combine and become heavy enough to fall to the ground der Hagel Hail Hail is formed when strong updrafts carry water droplets high into the atmosphere where they freeze and are repeatedly cycled through rising and falling air currents, forming layers of ice. der Dauerregen Constant or persistent rain The US National Weather Service has a good explanation of the different types of rainIn 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. der Graupel / Graupel Also known as snow pellets.Graupel forms when snowflakes are coated with a layer of ice. Graupel is typically white and opaque. der Eisregen Freezing rain Raindrops becomes supercooled and freeze upon impact with any surface. This results in ice that can accumulate.Freezing rain occurs when the layer of freezing air is so thin that the raindrops do not have enough time to freeze before reaching the ground.  Instead, the water freezes on contact with the surface, creating a coating of ice on whatever the raindrops contact.  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.Sleet occurs mainly just before snowfall and looks like hoarfrost droplets. In contrast to snow, sleet grains are easily breakable. Often these break when they hit the ground. der Schnee Snow Snow occurs when the temperature is cold enough for water vapor to freeze into ice crystals in the air. Snow is solid precipitation that falls from the sky in the form of ice crystals. The ice crystals look like six-pointed stars, needles, columns or plates.  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. Some also say that Fog is a cloud that reaches ground level (rolls in) 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.The accumulation will usually be horizontal due to the wind. This type of fog can occur when cold air