The data analysis of our measurement series of the Ludger-Mintrop Urban Climate Station (LMSS), which has been going on since 1888, has been completed and the feeling that the past summer of 2022 was extraordinary has been more than confirmed. At least with regard to the deficit in precipitation, old records were eclipsed by a long way. With an average temperature of 19.3 °C, it wasn't the hottest summer, but it was also far too warm compared to the average climate. An analysis follows.

For a brief classification it should be said that in the current climate mean 1991 - 2020 the average temperature of the summer was 18.6 °C. That is at least 0.8 °C more than in the older climate mean from 1961 to 1990, when the summer temperature was 17.8 °C. According to this, the summer of 2022, with an average temperature of 19.3 °C, was even 0.7 °K warmer than the current climate mean, making it the seventh warmest summer in the statistics. With an average temperature of 20.3 °C, summer 2003 was the warmest summer. For information, temperature measurements at the LMSS have been recorded since 1912 and precipitation measurements since 1888.

However, it becomes record-breaking if you take a closer look at the precipitation. Here, too, for a brief classification, in the current climate mean 1991 - 2020, 246.5 mm of precipitation falls during the summer. There are hardly any differences to the older climate mean 1961 - 1990, where an average of 242.7 mm fell. With a total of just 88.4 mm, summer 2022, actually the wettest season, rained as much as would normally be expected from an average July rainfall alone (1991 – 2020: 89.9 mm). That this was an absolute record event shows when you compare other record summers. The driest summers to date were 1983 with 104.5 mm, 1947 with 113.4 mm and 1932 with 116 mm.

To understand why the summer was so dry, one has to understand the underlying weather pattern. In the summer months, with a few exceptions, we mainly had high air pressure. The low-pressure influence was mostly limited to northern Europe, while high air pressure prevailed almost permanently over Central Europe.

In this respect, the summer of 2022 was definitely one of the extraordinary summers, especially if you look at the historical precipitation deficit, it was an unprecedented summer since records began in 1888. Such summers with high temperatures and low precipitation will occur more regularly due to climate change and will most likely be even more intense in the coming decades.