Weather – Hanover – Unusually mild turn of the year: Preliminary Rrecord – Panorama
Hanover (dpa / lni) – The people of Lower Saxony started the new year with extremely mild temperatures. The German Weather Service (DWD) predicted 12 to 16 degrees for New Year’s Day. On Monday it will remain very mild with highs of up to 15 degrees.
According to preliminary data, the temperature record in December was broken on New Year’s Eve in the federal state. On Saturday, 18.1 degrees were measured in Bevern in the Holzminden district, which is the highest December value since weather recording began in 1882, as the meteorologist Christian Throm from the DWD announced on Sunday when asked by the dpa. The previous December high was 16.9 degrees in Bad Harzburg (Goslar district) in 1953.
According to Throm, temperatures were higher than ever before on New Year’s Eve at more than 40 measuring stations in the state. The DWD was initially unable to say on Sunday whether a New Year’s temperature record was also broken. It was also very mild at night, another meteorologist said – in Hanover, for example, 17.0 degrees were measured around 3 a.m., “almost early summer values”.
More than a dozen nude swimmers welcomed the new year with a swim in the Sonnensee in Hanover. In addition, according to the organizer, around 100 spectators had gathered at the lake. However, the bathers could not stand the water temperatures of around three degrees for long.
After a two-year break due to corona, traditional New Year’s swimming was held again at the start of 2023 in many places along the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony. Dozens of brave swimmers were expected to greet the New Year with a dip in the ice-cold North Sea water – for example on the Butjadingen peninsula in the Wesermarsch. “Now it starts again,” said marketing manager Patrik Poelmeyer from the tourism service.
There, bathing was done under the Low German motto “Torüch ton Anfang”, because although the New Year’s swim has a tradition, it was not possible there as usual during the Corona pandemic. Poelmeyer said that all willing residents and guests are now welcome back to the North Sea Lagoon. “The most avid swimmers get a bath towel for free.” If the spectacle is too icy for you, you could watch from the beach.
New Year’s bathing, also known as bathing or swimming, is popular on New Year’s Day on the North Sea coast. Above all, the focus is on the fun factor. Costumed swimmers often plunge into the cold waves of the North Sea, which at this time of year usually only has temperatures in the single digits. Most of the time, numerous onlookers follow the spectacle on the beach.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:230101-99-72026/4