June 2025 was too hot, too sunny and too dry

Offenbach. This year's June was too dry, too warm, and very sunny. The month thus joins the ranks of previous Junes: every June since 2010 has been too warm, as the German Weather Service (DWD) announced after initial evaluations of its approximately 2,000 measuring stations.

According to the experts, the sun, in particular, worked overtime: it shone for around 277 hours – significantly more than the target of 203 hours for the international reference period from 1961 to 1990. Compared to the reference period from 1991 to 2020 (216 hours), this resulted in a positive deviation of 28 percent, according to the DWD. The southwest was particularly rich in vitamin D, with almost 300 hours of sunshine recorded there.

This was accompanied by several short heat waves. According to the weather service, the average temperature in June was 18.5 degrees Celsius, 3.1 degrees higher than the internationally valid reference period from 1961 to 1990 (15.4 degrees Celsius). Even compared to the current, warmer period from 1991 to 2020 (16.4 degrees Celsius), there was still a significant increase of 2.1 degrees Celsius. The southwest region, in particular, emerged as a heat hotspot: On the Upper Rhine, there were more than ten hot days above 30 degrees Celsius.

However, the sun and heat meant that rain was in short supply. With just 61 liters per square meter, June was once again too dry. "This was the fifth consecutive month since February that saw less precipitation than the climatological average," the experts reported. Compared to the reference period from 1961 to 1990 (85 liters), the deficit was almost a third, and compared to the more recent period (76 liters), the deficit was a fifth.

RND/dpa