Cologne (dpa / lnw) - This October could be the warmest in North Rhine-Westphalia since weather records began in 1881. The monthly average is currently 13.1 degrees Celsius, the German Weather Service (DWD) announced on Friday in Essen. The warmest October so far was measured in 2001 with an average of 13.4 degrees.
The high average values of the current month were reached because "the nights have not cooled down much," explained Thomas Gerwin, weather service technician at the DWD. Brief temperature peaks are not unusual for the tenth month of the year, but "over this longer period of time 20 degrees and again, that's extraordinary".
According to the DWD, the temperature has been measured every hour since 1881. A mean value is then calculated from the 24 values of a day. The monthly average is then determined using the daily values for a month. Tuesday will show whether this year's October will be the warmest in the history of the federal state.
