Germany's Extreme Weather Risk

 

This week I will be discussing the risk pertaining to extreme heat. Germany's extreme heat risk overall is rated as medium. The area of the country that is at the highest risk is the south-western part. According to the web-site Think Hazard, there is more than a 25% chance that at least one period of prolonged exposure to extreme heat, resulting in heat stress, will occur in the next five years. 

 In Germany from 2014-2018 there was a multi year drought, this was especially a drought of the soil. It was not due to precipitation deficits but due to high temperatures that increased evaporation of soil moisture. The soil moisture drought severity followed the same spatial pattern as that of the temperature anomalies according to the Climate Change Post web-site.

MITIGATION:

The German Government has instituted Heat Management protocols which includes technological adaptation, building design and/or changing working practices. It is their position that certain infrastructure may alter heat hazard. According to the researchers by constructing a significant piece of infrastructure this can significantly alter the thermal properties of the area, generally inducing higher temperatures. Their goal is that any newly built infrastructure covering large enough areas like a new city quarter or harbor zone should be undertaken with consideration as to how this will influence the local microclimate.

https://thinkhazar.org>germany>heat 

https://climatechangepost.com>germany>drought

Comments

  1. Monique FavelaApril 7, 2024 at 5:18 PM

    Thank you for your post. Its alluring how many countries face these heat waves. I was in South America for a month and they are in major drought today. My study case on Spain faces major heat waves too. Days are getting hotter for us. I wonder how this summer will look like this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Esteban RiosApril 7, 2024 at 8:31 PM

    Hi. I really liked learning about Germany and was very surprised that it had heat problems. I always thought that it was more of a colder area but we always learn new things. Similarly Kenya like Germany, which is my country, experiences droughts which may be as a result of hotter weather.

    ReplyDelete
  3. KatieApril 8, 2024 at 7:25 AM

    Hi Kirk! Great job, your post was an interesting read and very detailed.

    ReplyDelete

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