It has never been so hot in Luxembourg since 1838!
The Ministry of Agriculture revealed, this Tuesday, December 27, that the year 2022 which has just passed has been the hottest on record (tied with 2020) since 1838.
Global warming continues its work. According to the meteorological data analyzed up to and including December 26, the year 2022 turns out to be the hottest year ever recorded in Luxembourg since 1838.
With a record average of 10.9°C, the annual temperature is 1°C above the 1991-2020 reference average. Throughout the seasons, heat waves and temperature peaks have warmed the Grand Duchy:
- Winter 2022: average temperature (3.4°C): +1.3°C,
- Spring 2022: average temperature (9.8°C), excess between +0.3 and +0.8°C,
- Historic summer 2022: average temperature 19.3°C, maximum 36°C, second hottest summer ever measured. Records of 60 summer days (over 25°C) and 20 temperature peaks (over 30°C),
- Autumn 2022: average of 11.1°C, fourth warmest autumn ever measured, excess temperature between +1.3 and +1.6°C.
Record heat which also had an impact on the dryness of the country’s soils. The summer of 2022 was the driest since 1921, with July registering a rain deficit of -92% and August of -65% according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Added to the heat waves, the prolonged lack of rain has led to the good development of agricultural crops.
Effects of global warming
By analyzing the reference period 1991-2020, AgriMétéo observed a strong gradient from northwest to southeast, with a maximum annual precipitation (1022.2 mm) at Roodt, and a minimum (711.8 mm) at Remich. “These extremes testify to a long-standing climate change”, indicates AgriMétéo which specifies:
- Human-enhanced climate change increased temperatures by 1.5°C between 1861-1890 and 1991-2020
- The 10 hottest years are all in the period 2002-2021
- Each of the last three decades has been warmer than those before, and has been since 1840
- Drought has increased significantly between April and November over the years
- Between 1991 and 2020, 10 months (except December and January) have a regular risk of drought, whereas before (1961-1990), this risk was just higher in June and July.
“Without the effect of climate change, soil drought would have been around 3 to 4 times less likely, and summer heat waves less intense”, discovered Andrew Ferrone, head of the meteorological service and head of the Luxembourg delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with reference to the World Weather Attribution expert analysis for Central and Western Europe.
Impact on agriculture
In Luxembourg, the development of certain agricultural crops has been more or less impacted over the 2022 seasons. Crops of winter wheat, summer cereals, potatoes and especially fodder crops such as corn as well as meadows and pastures have suffered greatly.
Vegetable crops certainly provided for a long season, but at the cost of continuous and expensive irrigation. In fruit growing, harvests were good for cherries, Mirabelle plums and plums, but mixed for apples and pears. The maize harvest was very early.
Ditto in terms of viticulture: the historically early harvest began on August 22, a month earlier than normal, with an excellent vintage, but quantities revised downwards.