Germany's coldest winters

Across a considerable swathe of Northern Europe, heavy snowfall and freezing rain have caused chaos. Along with Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, parts of Germany have been badly impacted by the weather with autobahns closed and train services disrupted.

So far, Germany's coldest winter occurred 1962/63 when the average temperature nationwide was -5.5°C. In recent years, no winter comes even close to that with the last "extremely frosty" winter seen in 1984/85 when the average was -2.5 °C. As in many other parts of the world, climate change is leading to warmer winters in Germany along with more extreme weather events. In December 2020 for example, the average temperarure across the country was 3°C according to Deutschen Wetterdienst data.