Flooding in Germany

Ducky123 · **on:** May 31, 2013, 03:59:33 PM

Some places in Germany are endangered to be flooded or they're already flooded due to unnormally high amounts of rain the last two weeks. Last sunday we had up to 80 litres per squaremetre of rain the centre of the rain being the mid of Germany. It already caused a flooding in my home village(though as far as I know only some meadows and streets were hit). The last night and today we had something like 30-50 litres per squaremetre and it will rain until tomorrow so the amount of rain will increase especially the next hours. But this time the centre is the east and especially the south of Germany( plus some regions of other countries). They wide spreadly announce 100 litres per squaremetre and even more in the alps which is more than normally would fall within the whole month

!
I see a catastrophy coming as a hobby meteorologists...

anyway, I shot those photos today... they show the current flooding in my home village...

If you have questions or any opinions, I'd like to hear the

Also you can discuss the reasons for such strange weather with me... I like to do that

somerandomfangirl · **Reply #1 on:** May 31, 2013, 05:33:27 PM

Wow... that looks quite bad, Ducky. And by the sounds of it, it's going to get worse. :blink:

However, such weather is not unheard of. This looks very similar to weather we had in the South West of England in the few days just before Christmas. Braunton, which is a village in North Devon that my grandparents live near, and where my aunt lives, was a place that was severely flooded by a lot of rain. I know this topic is about the floods in Germany, but I just want to show two pictures as an example.

Since there's a dip in the road, some people were up to waist-deep in flood water, like this:

It seems there has been a lot more extreme weather around lately. I have heard some people saying that it is the result of climate change. I'm not too sure, though, but what I do know is that Britain has suffered more severe flooding and rain in the last few years. I hope Germany, and the rest of Europe, for that matter, doesn't suffer the same fate. The Braunton incident was all over the news, as well as somewhere in Cornwall, and when I went there just a week later, many of the shops were still closed and those that were open had to keep the bottom shelves clear.

I'm not an expert on weather, but I have noticed a lot more flooding and rain lately. Britain used to have warm, sunny summers and winters without any snow at all, but this winter was diabolical with the flooding and two counts of severe snow, and one of them was in March! And summers... well, we have around 2-3 weeks of sunshine and the rest is just rain or cloudy. I just have a bad feeling that it's only going to get worse.

Ducky123 · **Reply #2 on:** May 31, 2013, 05:59:26 PM

sure it is allowed( and appreciated

) to share some pics yourself

I must have missed this flood since I rarely watch the news the last time <_<

The flood you're refering to must have been worse than the current one though the strongest rainfalls will be tomorrow( not where I live fortunately)

Quote

It seems there has been a lot more extreme weather around lately. I have heard some people saying that it is the result of climate change.

Yeah, climate change is the most likeliest reason. I heard of some others that would explain the strange weather this year...
- minimum of sun activity: The sun's activity changes slightly within a periode of eleven years, this year it's the lowest.
- La Nina: You might have heard of El Nino... it's when a warm water stream replaces the usual cold water stream at the west coast of south america. El Nina is the usual case.
- I recently read that the overage world temperature which constantly increased the last 50 years didn't increased the last years...
- Some people believe that the air pollution such as smog reduces the radiotion and therefore the temperature...

If there are more photos to share(probably not self-taken) I'll share them:)

somerandomfangirl · **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2013, 06:07:25 PM

^^
I think it was more in the national news, so I doubt you would have seen it anyway.

I suppose they are all quite valid reasons for the strange weather lately, but like I said, I'm no expert by any meaning of the world.

If there are more photos, I look forward to seeing them. The weather most certainly does intrigue me sometimes...

jansenov · **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2013, 05:09:44 AM

The unusually damp and cold weather over Europe is explained here. Basically, the rapidly diminishing surface of Arctic ice cover means a great increase in the Arctic Sea's ability to absorb sunlight, and consequently means a great increase of temperature and pressure in the Arctic. The unusually high pressure in the Arctic means unusually low pressure over northern Eurasia and North America.

Note how the climate models are becoming very precise.

Dosu2Dinner · **Reply #5 on:** June 01, 2013, 05:23:40 AM

Hm, looks intense. And yeah, it reminds me also of the flooding we got in South West England.

Ducky123 · **Reply #6 on:** June 01, 2013, 08:07:09 AM

Quote

The unusually damp and cold weather over Europe is explained here. Basically, the rapidly diminishing surface of Arctic ice cover means a great increase in the Arctic Sea's ability to absorb sunlight, and consequently means a great increase of temperature and pressure in the Arctic. The unusually high pressure in the Arctic means unusually low pressure over northern Eurasia and North America.

Note how the climate models are becoming very precise.

Wow! Very interesting article... thanks for sharing

I'll watch this phenomen next winter

Petrie85 · **Reply #7 on:** June 01, 2013, 11:09:39 AM

Wow that is horrible I hope the country is okay and I hope everything goes alright there. I'm sorry to hear this happened in Germany. I hope Malte279 and others who live in Germany is alright.

Pterano · **Reply #8 on:** June 01, 2013, 11:42:58 AM

Sincere hopes that things don't get too bad for you over there.

Just another grim reminder of how we're negatively impacting our planet.

Climate change really shouldn't be politicized like it is over here, especially with the pretty precise evidence, as Jansenov pointed out.

Malte279 · **Reply #9 on:** June 01, 2013, 02:12:09 PM

Thank you for your concern, but luckily there is no need to worry about me

While the weather over here is rather grayish and we do get some rain it is far from the torrents other regions got. Also since I am no longer living in a cellar room but on the 3rd floor the water level is not likely to reach my place any time soon

Ducky123 · **Reply #10 on:** June 04, 2013, 06:09:22 PM

UPDATE: everything is fine where I live but in other regions the flood is at least as severe as the one in 2002...

pic 1poor people who live there
pic 2here you can see where the flood is worst atm(I (roughly) live where the 'S' of Saalfeld/Saale is)
pic 3You see the water is pretty high there

pic 4

I wish those people who are hit by this catastrophy my best luck

Kor · **Reply #11 on:** June 04, 2013, 09:00:37 PM

It does look like very bad flooding there. I hope everyone is ok.

Petrie85 · **Reply #12 on:** June 04, 2013, 09:09:23 PM

Yeah I also hope everyone over there get's through this just fine.