Climate change: record temperatures and floods in the Alps!

Climate change: record temperatures and floods in the Alps!

In August 2024, records were broken in Tyrol when the temperatures in the Patscherkofel and Lienz regions reached the highest since the start of the measurements. Exceptional August values were also registered in many other Austrian cities such as Graz, Klagenfurt and Rauris. This happened in parallel with similar record temperatures in Switzerland. An analysis of the weather data for this summer shows that regions often experienced over 25 degrees Celsius in high altitudes from 500 to 1,000 meters in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. These figures mean an increase of 50 to 80 percent compared to an average August from 1991 to 2020, as ORF reported.

The frost -free period on the high mountains was particularly impressive: on the Zugspitze and the Sonnblick there were 66 frost -free days from July to September - the longest series since the weather records began at these altitude. In contrast, the months of May, June and September experienced average temperatures. However, the amount of precipitation was exceptionally high for September, with extreme rains that are considered unattended to the Region. These amounts of rain, which were connected with a rare weather event from the Mediterranean, led to severe floods, such as the reported.

In addition to the weather technology analysis, it is interesting to consider how the months and seasons are used in German. The months from January to December are all masculine, that is, we say "January" or "February". The seasons, also masculine, are clearly defined: Spring is from March to May, the summer from June to August, autumn from September to November and winter from December to February. This structuring shows how closely German is associated with its roots, which is an advantage for English -speaking. So it is simply understandable that you say: "In August I have a birthday" or "In summer I go on vacation", which is based on the concept that the preposition "in" always requires the dative, like Emma Loves German explains.