Karlsruhe/Offenbach (dpa/lsw) - The turn of the year promises to be record-breakingly mild on the Upper Rhine: The German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach expects values ​​of up to 21 degrees during the day on New Year's Eve. Another 20 degrees could be reached on New Year's Day before a cold front brings some cooling at the beginning of the new week. "For the time being, however, winter weather is not in sight even in the mountains," said a DWD meteorologist.

The freezing cold in the USA, of all things, is responsible for what is expected in many places to be the warmest New Year's Eve since records were made. According to the DWD, it meets the warm Atlantic. The result: low air pressure, even in higher air layers, can extend unusually far to the south and, in combination with an Azores high, bring subtropical air masses to us.

In order for it to be as warm as expected, the wind first has to blow away the cold air. There is enough of that in the south-west: the German Weather Service expected strong gusts in the west of the country for Thursday, gusts of wind in the higher Black Forest and even hurricane-force gusts of up to 110 kilometers per hour on the Feldberg. The wind should weaken towards evening. In the night to Friday, however, further stormy gusts are expected in the Upper Black Forest.