RTL Today – Assessment of a scorching summer: Record drought and sunshine in Luxembourg
Météolux has published its report for the summer of 2022, and records for drought and sunshine have been broken in Luxembourg.
According to Météolux, the summer of 2022 was too hot, too dry and very sunny. It could well be a “foreshadowing” of what awaits the country in the coming decades. A future marked by climate change and its procession of disasters.
TEMPERATURES
Temperatures in the summer of 2022 were significantly above the long-term average. The average summer temperature was 20.1°C, 2.2°C higher than the reference period of the last thirty years. This is the 2nd hottest summer ever observed at the Luxembourg-Findel Airport meteorological station since 1947 (and the start of the records), after the summer of 2003 which posted an average of 20.5°C.
The absolute maximum temperature of summer 2022 was recorded on July 19 with 36.3°C. The absolute minimum temperature was reached on June 2 with 6.8°C. The average temperatures for the months of June, July and August are 1.6°C, 1.9°C and 3.1°C higher than the reference period.
There were 57 summer days (days with maximum temperatures above 25°C) while the long-term average is 31 days. The summer of 2022 counts 15 days of heat with temperatures above 30°C (compared to 7 days according to the average of the last thirty years) and 1 day of high heat (maximum temperature ≥ 35°C).
Finally four tropical nights were recorded at Findel airport.
THE PRECIPITATIONS
The summer cumulative precipitation was 74.6 l/m², which is significantly lower, by about 66%, than the reference period 1991-2020 which is 217 l/m².
This is the driest summer ever observed at the Findel station since 1947. The summer record with 99.8 l/m² has therefore been largely beaten.
SUNSHINE
Again, a record has fallen. With 956.2 hours of sunshine, summer 2022 is the sunniest ever observed in Luxembourg since records began. It surpasses the summer of 2003 which had 893.3 hours of sunshine.
It is also clearly (+30%) above the long-term average 1991-2020.