Germany experienced unusually high temperatures for the beginning of April at the weekend, the German Weather Service (DWD) said on Saturday.
According to preliminary figures from Saturday afternoon, there was even a heat record for the first 10 days of April.
In Ohlsbach in the Rhine Valley, 29.9 degrees Celsius were measured, according to the German Weather Service Baden-Württemberg. This was the highest temperature during this time period since weather records began.
The previous record for the ten-day-period (April 1 to 11) was 27.7 degrees, measured in 2011.
However, the 29.9 degrees are only provisional figures. More precise measurements should only be available in the evening, and these will be checked later.
A brief bout of summery conditions April is nothing unique: the current monthly high was recorded on April 28, 2012, when 32.9 degrees were recorded in Bad Mergentheim in Baden-Württemberg and in Kitzingen in Bavaria.
And between 2009 and 2022, there was always at least one summer-like day with temperatures hitting more than 25 degrees in Germany in April, according to the German Weather Service.
The weather experts say Germany will experience "exceptionally warm air" in the coming days.
Temperatures of 18 to 29 degrees are possible, in the south it could even reach 31 degrees locally. This will continue in many parts of the country on Monday: a maximum of 24 to 29 degrees is expected, with 15 to 23 degrees in the north-west.
According to the DWD, various factors are playing a role in the current weather situation: an excessively warm Atlantic, coupled with a current from the south-west, which is being strengthened by a gale-force low to the west of Ireland. Added to this is the expected sunny weather.
The extreme temperatures can therefore not be explained by climate change alone, explained Guido-Peter Wolz, head of the regional DWD advisory centre in Munich.